Garland charts DOJ collision course with Maricopa County election audit

The Justice Department is staffing up and will apply new “scrutiny” to controversial audits looking for evidence of fraud in the 2020 election, Attorney General Merrick Garland declared on Friday.

The message was the clearest signal yet that the Biden administration is gearing up to crack down on the Republican-led Arizona Senate’s review in Maricopa County, which has attracted GOP officials from other states to consider their own audits and praise from former President Donald Trump, who insists the November contest was rigged despite assurances by elections officials it was secure. A clash could very well happen before the audit is complete and its findings are released in a report expected to be released this summer.