More than 500 emails related to Arizona Senate President Karen Fann‘s correspondence about the audit of the 2020 election in Maricopa County were released on Friday. They showed the Republican talking about being in touch with former President Donald Trump and his attorney Rudy Giuliani in the months leading up to the review.
The messages were released in response to a public records request from American Oversight, a left-leaning watchdog which has voiced opposition to Trump, which sued the state Senate on May 19 alleging Fann failed to run a “transparent process” with the Republican Senate-led audit looking at the 2.1 million ballots cast in Arizona’s most populous county.
The published materials show Fann’s correspondence to and from her Senate email account between November and May.
In one message on Dec. 28, Fann told a constituent: “I have been in numerous conversations with Rudy Giuliani over the past weeks trying to get this done,” referring to the audit plans. Giuliani was the personal lawyer to Trump, who led the legal effort to challenge the 2020 election results in multiple states following the November contest. In that same email, Fann told the constituent she had “the full support” of Giuliani for the plans, adding that she had “a personal call from President Trump thanking us for pushing to prove any fraud.”
A separate exchange with another contact on Dec. 2 shows Fann say that she spoke with Giuliani “at least 6 times over the past two weeks” at the time, including a “private 2 hour meeting” with the attorney and Trump’s legal team.
Fann claims Giuliani approached her on Dec. 1 about a meeting and believes she has not spoken to him since, according to an email she sent to NBC News.
ARIZONA GOP BOASTS 1 MILLION BALLOTS COUNTED IN MARICOPA COUNTY AUDIT
In a December 2 email, Fann said that she met with Giuliani “6 times over the past two weeks.” She also stated that she and Arizona Speaker of the House Russell Bowers met with Giuliani and the Trump legal team on December 1. pic.twitter.com/tjY5lYF2Ja
— American Oversight (@weareoversight) June 5, 2021
The legal challenges have largely fizzled out, but Trump and his allies have been eagerly supporting the Senate’s audit in Maricopa County, which organizers expect to wrap up this summer with the release of a report. The Arizona Senate is spending $150,000 on the audit and hired a technology firm called Cyber Ninjas to lead the process that has been going on since April 23. The full cost of the audit has not been made public.
OANN anchor Christina Bobb has helped raise funds for the audit through a nonprofit group, Voices and Votes, while covering the controversial review as a reporter. The disclosure on Friday revealed Bobb emailed Fann on Dec. 4 saying she sent the Senate president election-related declarations made by the Trump legal team at the behest of Giuliani.
The email was sent on the same day an Arizona judge threw out a Republican-backed lawsuit seeking to claim fraud in the county. Jenna Ellis, a senior legal adviser to Trump, said in late November, “Christina is an attorney and has helped with some legal work in her personal capacity and not on behalf of OANN.”
Trump’s legal team filed at least 42 post-Election Day lawsuits in several states President Joe Biden won in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
In response to an email arguing the audit is a waste of funding, Fann said, “Biden won.” She added that “45% of all Arizona voters thinks there is a problem with the election system,” noting the audit was a way to reassure voter confidence.
The former president has cheered the audit via his Save America PAC newsletter, repeating his claims there was widespread fraud during the 2020 election. He recently called on Pennsylvania Republicans to conduct a similar forensic audit in the Keystone State.
The Maricopa County audit has faced resistance from bipartisan isles, as critics note results from two previous election machine audits, conducted for the majority-Republican Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, showed no irregularities in the county’s 2020 election. A recount of a sample of ballots also found no problems.
Arizona Senate Republicans issued subpoenas to apprehend election materials from the county in December but were later declined by a judge. A different judge ruled on Feb. 26 the subpoenas are “legal and enforceable,” after which the country agreed to share its election materials.
The audit will not change the results of the presidential election, as elected officials in Arizona previously certified Biden’s victory there.
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The Washington Examiner contacted the Arizona Senate but did not immediately receive a response.
