Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) is urging the Arizona State Bar to launch an ethics investigation of former state Legal professional Normal Mark Brnovich (R) following a report that he labored to cover a report that refuted false claims of voter fraud affecting the state’s elections in 2020.
Bo Dul, the overall counsel for Hobbs’s workplace, mentioned in a letter to the chief counsel of the state bar obtained by The Washington Put up that Brnovich’s conduct was “dangerous to our democracy, our State, and the authorized career itself.”
Dul directed the state bar to evaluation information associated to Brnovich’s conduct on the web site for the state lawyer normal’s workplace.
“I urge the State Bar to evaluation these information and take any applicable motion,” Dul mentioned.
The letter comes after the Put up reported on Wednesday that inner paperwork present Brnovich stored a March 2022 report that concluded claims of errors and wrongdoing had been with out benefit non-public. Brnovich had begun an investigation into voting in Maricopa County, the place some allies for former President Trump claimed voter fraud had price him victory within the state, a few 12 months after the election.
The previous AG launched an interim report in April 2022 that claimed that voting within the county was “broke,” nevertheless it didn’t embrace edits from these investigating that will have refuted his claims. He ultimately organized an “Election Evaluation Abstract” in September that said that proof had not been introduced to again up voter fraud claims, nevertheless it was not launched earlier than Brnovich’s time period in workplace ended final month.
A number of audits and lawsuits filed within the aftermath of the 2020 election confirmed no proof existed to again up claims from Trump and his supporters that widespread voter fraud or procedural points price him victory in Arizona or every other state.
The Put up reported that the state bar mentioned it has obtained at the least eight complaints in opposition to Brnovich associated to his investigation of voting within the 2020 election.
Brnovich denied the allegations that he hid the ultimate report in an announcement, reportedly telling native media shops that he was happy with the work his workplace did on “election integrity.”
“Whereas subjected to extreme criticism from all sides of the political spectrum throughout the course of our investigations, we did our due diligence to run all complaints to floor,” he mentioned. “The place we had been in a position to debunk rumors and conspiracies, we did so.”
“Nonetheless, we additionally recognized areas we imagine the legislature and county officers ought to tackle to make sure confidence in future elections,” he added.
