Arizona Republican Party Joins Two Other State GOPs Filing an Amicus Curiae Brief in Kari Lake’s and Mark Finchem’s Voting Machine Tabulator Lawsuit

Attorney William Olson

The Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) submitted a joint Amicus Curiae brief on Thursday with the Georgia Republican Party and the Republican State Committee of Delaware supporting Kari Lake’s and Mark Finchem’s Petition for Certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court. The pair are appealing the lower courts’ decisions against their lawsuit challenging the use of electronic voting machine tabulators in elections. Under the new leadership of AZGOP Chair Gina Swoboda, who has a lengthy history in election integrity work including heading the Voter Reference Foundation, the AZGOP is heavily focused on election integrity. 

Authored by attorney William J. Olson, the brief argues that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals erred by dismissing the case claiming Lake and Finchem lacked standing. The court affirmed the trial court’s granting of the defendants’ motion to dismiss, asserting that the pair lacked standing because “speculative allegations that voting machines may be hackable are insufficient to establish an injury in fact under Article III.” The complaint emphasized that the lower courts “conflated standing with merits, twisting the standing rules to require much more — that the complaint prove facts sufficient to grant relief.” 

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Arizona GOP Chair Gina Swoboda Secures Favorable Court Ruling Allowing Election Integrity Group to Review Voter Rolls

Gina Swoboda Courtroom

Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) Chairwoman Gina Swoboda secured a favorable court ruling for her election integrity group, the Voter Reference Foundation (VRF), and will gain access to New Mexico voter roll data.

U.S. District Court Judge James Browning in New Mexico made a ruling on Friday in the case brought against that state by the VRF that was largely favorable to Swoboda’s group, with reports indicating VRF was given permission to post voter rolls online and was given access to voter information previously withheld by the New Mexico Secretary of State.

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Arizona Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments from Arizona Republican Party Appealing Sanctions over Election Lawsuit, Grills Opposing Attorney

Arizona Supreme Court

The Arizona Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week from the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) and opposing litigant Secretary of State (AZSOS) over lower courts awarding sanctions against the AZGOP for filing a “groundless” lawsuit “in bad faith.” The AZGOP sued Arizona officials immediately after the 2020 election for conducting a post-election audit that the AZGOP contended did not comply with the law. The AZGOP said the law required the audit to be conducted at the precinct level, but the audit was conducted at the voting center level according to the state’s Election Procedures Manual (EPG), which the AZGOP claimed contradicted state law. 

The AZGOP said A.R.S. § 16-602 requires precinct-level audits. The relevant part of that statute, (B)(1), provides, “ At least two percent of the precincts in that county, or two precincts, whichever is greater, shall be selected at random from a pool consisting of every precinct in that county.” In contrast, the EPM states that in counties which utilize vote centers, vote centers will be used for the audits. 

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Gina Swoboda Explains Why She Was Reluctant at First to Run for AZGOP Chair

Newly-elected chair of the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) Gina Swoboda joined Thursday’s edition of The Afternoon Addiction with Garret Lewis on KFYI to discuss why she was reluctant at first to run as the AZGOP chair, explaining how a call from former President Donald Trump ultimately changed her mind.

“It was impossible to say no,” Swoboda said. “It was surreal. I think any one of us when called upon to serve is going to serve.”

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Gina Swoboda Explains How Her Election Integrity Work Will Play a Role in Her New Position as AZGOP Chair

AZGOP Chair Gina Swoboda

Newly-elected chair of the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) Gina Swoboda joined Thursday’s edition of The Afternoon Addiction with Garret Lewis on KFYI to discuss her experience as an election official and how her extensive knowledge of election laws will benefit her in her new position as chair.

“One of the issues I think we have had historically is that there has not been a process expert, a subject matter expert, that works with the attorneys to explain to them, ‘this is what should be happening, this is not what’s happening, flag on the court.’ The election attorneys are great, but they are election attorneys, not election administrators,” Swoboda explained. “I’m a certified election official and I’ve helped administer elections…so I know what’s supposed to be happening, I know when things are not supposed to be happening, or when we should be doing things that we are not doing.”

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AZGOP Chair Gina Swoboda Explains Why Early Litigation ‘Has to Happen’ to Avoid Election Fraud This Election Cycle

Newly-elected chair of the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP), Gina Swoboda, joined Thursday’s edition of The Afternoon Addiction with Garret Lewis on KFYI to discuss how her extensive knowledge of election laws will benefit her in her new position as the party’s chair, in particular her strategy of litigating to protect the party against lawfare this election cycle before it’s “too late.”

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The New York Times Fails to Report Accurately on Election of New AZGOP Chair Gina Swoboda, an Election Integrity Champion

Election integrity champion Gina Swoboda was elected chair of the Arizona Republican Party on Saturday, prompting negative coverage from the mainstream media. Endorsed by both Donald Trump and Kari Lake, she won the election in a landslide over another MAGA conservative, Arizona Corporation Commissioner Jim O’Connor, but The New York Times portrayed the election as chaotic and evidence of the party’s “yawning ideological divide.” 

The article said Swoboda “runs a nonprofit group that has falsely claimed to have found huge discrepancies in voting records in a number of states.” The article linked to a piece by ProPublica which reported on the work of Swoboda’s Voter Reference Foundation (VoteRef). VoteRef discovered discrepancies between the number of voters and the number of ballots cast in numerous states. ProPublica cited objections to the report from several election officials as evidence the work was invalid. 

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Kari Lake Praises New Arizona Republican Party Chair Gina Swoboda as ‘Election Integrity Hero,’ Confirms She Released AZGOP Audio

Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake expressed full confidence in newly-elected Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) Chair Gina Swoboda during a Sunday interview. She also offered new insight about the alleged bribe that was relayed by former AZGOP Chair Jeff DeWit.

Speaking to “Sunday Morning Futures” host Maria Bartiromo, Lake called Swoboda “an incredible woman who is an election integrity hero and will make prioritizing securing our elections a top priority” before the November elections.

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AZGOP Chair Gina Swoboda on Bannon’s War Room: ‘We Need to Litigate to Protect Ourselves from Lawfare’

Bannon's Warroom

Newly-elected chair of the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) Gina Swoboda joined Steve Bannon’s War Room on Monday where she discussed her plan to litigate and protect the party from lawfare ahead of the November election.

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AZGOP Chair Gina Swoboda on Bannon’s War Room: ‘We Need to Litigate to Protect Ourselves from Lawfare’

Bannon's Warroom

Newly-elected chair of the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) Gina Swoboda joined Steve Bannon’s War Room on Monday where she discussed her plan to litigate and protect the party from lawfare ahead of the November election.

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Gina Swoboda Wins Election to Arizona Republican Party Chair in Decisive Victory

The Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) voted on Saturday to elect Gina Swoboda to be its next chair following the abrupt resignation of Jeff DeWit. Out of 1,600 votes cast, sources told The Arizona Sun Times that Swoboda won over 1,000 votes and her nearest opponent, Arizona Corporation Commissioner Jim O’Connor, won slightly more than 400.

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Kari Lake Confirms She Recorded AZGOP Audio, Reveals Daughter’s Concern Helped Motivate Release

Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake confirmed on Thursday that she recorded the audio of former Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) Chair Jeff DeWit relaying an offer for Lake to receive a well-paying private sector job in exchange for staying out of politics. She also said listening to the audio with her daughter was a key motivation to release the recording.

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Trump Cancels Arizona Appearance, Arizona Republicans Cancel Freedom Fest in Wake of AZGOP Audio Release

Former President Donald Trump canceled his planned travel to Arizona for Freedom Fest, an event held by the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP), which was also canceled despite other speakers planning to attend.

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Kari Lake on DeWit Resignation: ‘Better Late Than Never’

Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake joined Wednesday’s edition of The Afternoon Addiction with Garret Lewis on KFYI in Phoenix where she reacted to Jeff DeWit’s resignation as the chair of the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) after he delivered her a message last year which included offering her money and a job if she stayed out of politics for two years. The audio recording of DeWit allegedly trying to convince Lake to stay out of politics for two years by suggesting he could find her a well-paying nonpolitical job in the private sector was released on Tuesday, as previously reported by The Arizona Sun Times.

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Kari Lake Holds Press Conference Discussing Newly Resigned AZGOP Chair’s Financial Offer to Get Her Out of Politics

Kari Lake held a press conference on Rumble Wednesday evening to discuss revelations from a newly released recording of a conversation last March between herself and former Arizona Republican Party Chair Jeff DeWit, who was forced to resign after it came out. In the recording, DeWit is heard attempting to convince Lake to drop out of politics for a couple of years in exchange for a well-paying job, prompting an outcry that forced his resignation on Tuesday. Lake fielded questions from both reporters and other viewers during her talk, which lasted around half an hour.

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NRSC Silent on Whether It Was Behind AZGOP Chair’s Offer of Money from ‘Back East’ for Kari Lake to Stay Out of Politics

Jeff DeWit, the chair of the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP), resigned on Wednesday after an audio recording was leaked revealing him offering Kari Lake money and a job if she stayed out of politics for two years. Now, questions are arising as to who told DeWit to make the offer.

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Republicans Now Have Most Registered Voters in Arizona as Democrats Lose Nearly 60,000

A plurality of Arizona voters are now registered Republican, becoming the dominant political structure in the state and reversing a previous trend that saw the majority of Arizona voters registered independent.

Data published by the Arizona Secretary of State for January shows 34.58 percent of the state’s voters are now registered Republican, followed by 34.38 percent who are registered “Other” or independent, and 29.55 percent who are registered Democrats.

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Arizona Legislature Expected to Sue Secretary of State Adrian Fontes over ‘Politically Loaded Election Manual’

The Arizona Legislature is expected to file a lawsuit against Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) over his “politically loaded” Elections Procedures Manual (EPM), according to statements made Sunday and Monday by the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP), House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria), and Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Mesa).

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Arizona GOP Legislative District Passes Resolution Urging State Legislature to Oversee the Presidential Election So It Can Add Election Integrity Measures

Legislative District (LD) 3 Republicans passed a resolution unanimously on November 30 urging the Arizona Legislature to change the procedures governing the presidential election to allow the body to administer the 2024 general election directly instead of state government. The Republicans said they believe this would allow the legislature to implement additional election integrity measures such as one-day voting and hand-counted ballots. The Maricopa County Republican Committee (MCRC) previously called for the Arizona Republican Party to administer the presidential preference election on August 26.

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Turning Point Action’s Tyler Bowyer Warns Arizona GOP Getting ‘Zero Support’ from RNC

Tyler Bowyer, the Chief Operating Officer for Turning Point Action, warned the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) is receiving “zero support” from the Republican National Committee (RNC) in a social media post on Monday.

Bowyer’s post on X, formerly Twitter, was in response to 92.3 KTAR FM host Barry Markson’s claim that former President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again platform “is killing the GOP” in the state, citing a report from The Washington Post which claimed AZGOP Chairman Jeff DeWit was rebuffed by the RNC and its chair, Ronna McDaniel, when repeatedly requesting national funds for the AZGOP since February.

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Arizona GOP Says There Will Be No Change in Administration of 2024 GOP Presidential Primary Election

Arizona Republican Party Chairman Jeff DeWit said on Friday in an email to the members of the Arizona GOP Executive Committee the party will not change the method of election administration for the party’s March 2024 GOP Presidential Primary, rejecting a proposal made to the state party six days earlier by the Maricopa County Republican Party to replace the state government administered primary election with a “firehouse primary,” one administered by the party itself rather than the state government.

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Maricopa County GOP Demands Arizona GOP Withdraw from a Government-Run 2024 Arizona Presidential Preference Election

The Maricopa County Republican Committee Executive Guidance Committee (MCRC EGC) demanded on Saturday that Arizona Republican Party Chairman Jeff DeWit withdraw the Arizona GOP from a government-run 2024 Arizona Presidential Preference Election by Friday.

The Presidential Preference Election (PPE) is an election in which voters can choose who they would like to be their presidential candidate in the upcoming General Election. Party winners of the Arizona PPE are officially determined at the party’s national convention.

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Arizona Secretary of State Fontes Will Publish Public Comments on 2023 Elections Procedures Manual

A spokesperson for Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes told The Arizona Sun Times that the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office will publish all public comments on the 2023 Election Procedure Manual on the website after a review of comments has been completed.

“The comments will be made public after staff has a chance to review. Once that review is complete, it will be posted on the Secretary of State’s website,” the spokesperson told The Sun Times.

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Arizona Republican Party Names State Senator Justine Wadsack as Freshman Senator of the Year

The Arizona Republican Party named Senator Justine Wadsack (R-Tuscon) as their Freshman Senator of the Year for making history by seeing an unprecedented number of her proposed bills pass through the State Senate.

In a single year, Wadsack was successful in promoting a number of significant legislation that attracted national notice and addressed important issues for Arizonans, including water supply, education, and child protection.

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Emails Reveal Katie Hobbs While Secretary of State Pressured Twitter and Facebook to Censor Her GOP Opponents

Newly released emails reveal that Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs, while serving as secretary of state overseeing elections, had her staff pressure social media companies to censor posts by her Republican opponents under the guise of “misinformation.” Her targets included the Arizona Republican Party and former conservative powerhouse legislator Kelly Townsend.

The AZGOP responded in a tweet, “EXPOSED: @GovernorHobbs has relentlessly censored major entities, including the Arizona Republican Party. Shocked? We’re not. It’s time for transparency and accountability. This goes beyond politics—it’s a matter of principle.”

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Arizona Republicans Condemn the Prosecution of Donald Trump

The Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) Executive Committee and the Maricopa County Republican Committee Executive Guidance Committee (MCRC) issued unanimous resolutions last week condemning the indictment of former President Donald Trump secured by Democratic New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Other prominent Republicans in the state including Kari Lake also spoke up denouncing the prosecution. 

Both GOP resolutions contained similar language, strongly condemning the “political persecution” and “political witch hunt.” The AZGOP resolution emphasized that the Republican Party stands for “upholding justice and the rule of law,” and criticized the Democrats’ “blatant disregard for justice.” The statement concluded by condemning “the weaponization of the American justice system against political opponents of the current justice system.”

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Supreme Court Denies Arizona GOP Chair’s Bid to Block Jan. 6 Panel from Reviewing Phone Records

The Supreme Court on Monday denied Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward’s request to keep her cellphone records from the Democrat-led House Jan. 6 panel.

The court vacated the temporary order that Justice Elana Kagan put in place, pausing the phone records from being shared while the court weighed Ward’s request.

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Although Early Ballots Favored Democrats, Mark Finchem Says He Is Optimistic for Secretary of State Race Win

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona – Republican Mark Finchem remained optimistic in the hours following the polls closing on Tuesday as the early returns showed the Secretary of State hopeful underperforming against his Democratic Party rival, Adrian Fontes. 

Arizona’s Trump-endorsed slate of candidates appeared to be losing at first, with State Representative Mark Finchem (R-Oro Valley) trailing former Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes in the Secretary of State’s race 41.8 percent to 58.2 percent. By midnight, 69 percent of precincts were tabulated.

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Democrats Lead in Arizona on Election Night, But Hope Remains Strong for Republicans

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona – Election night is well underway in Arizona, and despite some issues during the day in Maricopa County, voters are currently being tabulated. At the time of writing, tallied votes show Democrats leading across the state, but a data expert said Republican victories are not out of the question yet.

“We’re not going to have answers tonight. As anticipated, the early ballots – counted first – have favored Democrats. But as day-of ballots begin to be counted tonight and tomorrow, we can expect Republicans to make strong gains. With Election Day ballots that have been counted so far, Kari is winning them by a margin of 42%. But it will take time,” said Data Orbital Pollster George Khalaf in a statement shared with the Arizona Sun Times.

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Kari Lake Reassures Republicans at Arizona GOP Election Night Party That She Will Win

By midnight on election night in Arizona, mostly only early ballots had been counted, which skewed towards Democrats due to large numbers of conservative voters voting in person on election day. The Trump-endorsed slate of candidates was behind, with Democrat Katie Hobbs ahead of Kari Lake 56.7 percent to 43.3 percent, and 69 percent of precincts reporting. 

Lake spoke to the crowd at the massive Arizona Republican Party event in Scottsdale late in the evening after the results came out, declaring, “It’s early” and reassuring Republicans, “I want you to know we are going to monitor the ballots. We will not stop counting until we have every legal ballot counted.” 

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Arizona GOP Disputes Katie Hobbs’ Portrayal of Herself as a Moderate in Her New Border Security Ad

Arizona Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who is running for governor, is pivoting her campaign ads to “clone herself as a ‘moderate,’” Arizona Republican Party Chair Jerimiah Cota contends. A new ad from Hobbs states that she will “keep our border secure,” but Cota said in a statement that “this is far from the truth.” 

He said, “This statement is absurd implying that the border was secure to begin with. On top of that, Katie cannot expect the people of Arizona to forget her atrocious record when it comes to border security. … She has actively worked against securing Arizona’s border her entire career. We view Hobbs and her team’s attempt to trick an entire state into forgetting her anti-border security history as an insult to the intelligence of Arizonans.” 

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Arizona Republican Party Offers $50,000 Reward for Evidence of Vote Buying in 2022 Election

The Arizona Republican Party announced last week that it would reward anyone who provides evidence of vote buying in the 2022 election a $50,000 reward, with up to two rewards. The evidence must lead to an arrest and conviction. 

The press release explains how vote buying occurs, usually with mail-in ballots since they are not secret from everyone. “Unfortunately,” the AZGOP said, “the movement towards mass mail-in voting completely undoes secret ballot reform. Mail-in ballots are not secret — once a person has a ballot in their home, they can easily show it to anyone, including bad actors.” 

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Arizona Republican Party Censures House Speaker Rusty Bowers: ‘Unfit to Serve’

The Arizona Republican Party’s Executive Committee formally censured Arizona Speaker of the House Rusty Bowers (R-Mesa) this week, calling on Republicans to vote him out of office during the primary election this year, and urging his Legislative District 10 and the Maricopa County Republican Party to issue their own censures.

The two-page censure contains a lengthy list of Bowers’ actions on bills in the Arizona Legislature, and declares he is “unfit to serve the platform of the Republican Party and will of the voter of the Republican Party of Arizona.” AZGOP Chair Kelli Ward tweeted, “he is no longer a Republican in good standing & we call on Republicans to replace him at the ballot box in the August primary.”

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Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward Responds to Judge Upholding Mail-In Ballots

A Superior Court Judge in Mohave County blocked a request from the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) today to block most mail-in ballots for the 2022 election.

“Is the Arizona legislature prohibited by the Arizona Constitution from enacting voting laws that include no-excuse mail-in voting? The answer is no,” said Judge Lee F. Jantzen in his ruling.

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Democratic Former Maricopa County Recorder Running for Secretary of State Calls to Impeach Attorney General Brnovich

Adrian Fontes of Arizona

Democratic former Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes, who is running for Arizona Secretary of State, is calling for the Arizona Legislature to impeach Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich. The former county elections chief said it is due to Brnovich’s “grotesque political self-service, abuse of office, and other bad acts.” 

Fontes declared, “It is well past time for Arizona’s legislative leadership to investigate, for possible impeachment proceedings, the increasing instability of our state’s top prosecutor.”

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Arizona GOP Sues Arizona Secretary of State Hobbs to Stop Unmonitored Ballot Drop Boxes, Include Signature Verification Procedures, and Even Challenges Mail-In Voting

The Arizona Republican Party, along with its secretary Yvonne Cahill, has filed a lawsuit against Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs over more actions she has taken that appear to be making it easier to commit voter fraud. The AZGOP’s Application for Issuance of Writ Under Exercise of Original Jurisdiction asks the court to compel Hobbs to include signature verification procedures in the election procedures manual and remove the language she added authorizing the set up of unmonitored ballot drop boxes, and challenges “no-excuse” early ballots as violating the Arizona Constitution. 

AZGOP Chair Kelli Ward, who has been out on the forefront combating election fraud since the 2020 presidential election, told The Arizona Sun Times, “We want to make sure that our elections are secure so we can restore voter confidence and strengthen our representative republic.”

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Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward Sues to Block Democrats’ January 6 House Committee from Subpoenaing Her Phone Records

The Democratic-controlled House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 protest at the U.S. Capitol has been subpoenaing numerous Republicans close to former President Donald Trump, including subpoenaing three months of phone records from Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward. Ward did not participate in the rally that day. 

Several of the Republicans subpoenaed are fighting back against the aggressive posturing, including Ward, who filed a lawsuit in Arizona federal district court on Feb. 1 along with her husband against the House Select Committee and its chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (R-02-Miss.) in order to stop T-Mobile from turning over the records.

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Arizona Attorney General Brnovich Leads Challenge at SCOTUS Related to Hobbs

Mark Brnovich

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed an amicus curiae brief Monday in the U.S. Supreme Court with 22 states signing on, demanding the court overrule a decision by the Sixth Circuit allowing state officials to surrender in lawsuits challenging state laws they don’t want to defend.  The move comes as Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, is refusing to appeal adverse decisions striking down Arizona’s elections laws.

The brief relates to Kentucky v. EMW Women’s Surgical Center, where Democratic Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear failed to appeal a court decision striking down a Kentucky law banning dismemberment abortions during the second trimester of pregnancy. Kentucky’s Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron is trying to intervene in order to defend the law.

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