Trump Supporters Raise $5.7M For Arizona Election Audit

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FILE - In this April 22, 2021, file photo, Cyber Ninjas owner Doug Logan, left, a Florida-based consultancy, talks about overseeing a 2020 election ballot audit ordered by the Republican lead Arizona Senate at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, during a news conference in Phoenix. Arizona’s largest county has approved nearly $3 million for new vote-counting machines to replace those given to legislative Republicans for a partisan review of the 2020 election. The GOP-controlled Maricopa County Board of Supervisors said Wednesday, July 14, 2021 that the machines were compromised because they were in the control of firms not accredited to handle election equipment. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

PHOENIX (AP) — Groups connected to prominent supporters of former President Donald Trump have raised $5.7 million for Arizona Republicans’ election audit.

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Doug Logan, CEO of Cyber Ninjas, the firm hired to lead the audit, ended months of silence about who was paying for it and how much it cost Wednesday night. The money from pro-Trump groups dwarfs the $150,000 contributed by the Arizona Senate, which commissioned the audit and hired Cyber Ninjas.

Among those leading the fundraising groups are Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security advisor; Sydney Powell, his attorney who filed a number of baseless lawsuits challenging election results; Patrick Byrne, a former chief executive of Overstock.com; and correspondents from the pro-Trump One America News Network.

By far the largest funder is The America Project, led by Byrne, which Logan said has so far contributed $3.25 million. America’s Future, which lists Flynn as its chairman, contributed just over $976,000. Voices and Votes, led by OANN correspondents Christina Bobb and Chanel Rion, contributed $605,000; and Powell’s Defending the Republic gave $550,000. Election Integrity Funds for the American Republic, which Logan said is led by attorney Matthew DePerno, contributed $280,000. DePerno unsuccessfully sued Antrim County, Michigan, over the election.

Logan said several of the groups “have also provided operational support and advice pivotal in executing the audit.”

Still unclear is where those groups got their money. They are organized as nonprofits and do not have to disclose their donors.

Logan has fought to keep the funders secret, though he acknowledged at the beginning of the audit that his $150,000 contract with the Senate wouldn’t cover the cost of the work the Senate hired him to do. He released the figures on the deadline for him to voluntarily comply with a request for information, including donor information, from the U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee. Several public records lawsuits also seek information from the Senate and Cyber Ninjas.

A news release from Cyber Ninjas said the audit received $5,711,514.43 in outside donations, but the itemized list of amounts contributed by each of the five groups adds up to $50,000 less. A spokesman for Cyber Ninjas, Rod Thomson, did not respond to an email seeking clarification on the discrepancy.

Thomson declined to say how much of the $5.7 million has been profit for Cyber Ninjas and other contractors, whether they expect to get more money and whether there are plans for what to do if the contributions far exceed the costs of the audit.

The auditors on Thursday began returning the 2.1 million ballots and election equipment to Maricopa County, three months after they were delivered to the state fairgrounds for a review that was originally expected to take 60 days.

The Senate got access to the materials after top senators issued a subpoena late last year, as Trump and his allies tried to convince members of Congress not to certify Joe Biden’s win on Jan. 6. Maricopa County turned them over after a judge ruled the subpoena was valid.

Fann and Judiciary Committee Chairman Warren Petersen this week issued new subpoenas demanding more information as well as materials they say the Senate withheld from the original demand. Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jack Sellers, a Republican, said the board members are discussing their options with their lawyers and expect to say more within the next week.


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Yaakov Doe
Yaakov Doe
2 years ago

Cyber Ninjas seems to be quite a profitable enterprise.

Flayer1
Flayer1
2 years ago

Of course, it will be Trump supporters. The plaintiff in election cases are always responsible. Do you think Biden or the Democrats will do anything to expose what happened? They are busy paying legions of lawyers and weaponizing the branches of government to PREVENT the audit. There is nothing wrong with donors’ participation. What is wrong is the taxpayer money being used to hide the facts and protect the guilty. If the election was all above board and legitimately counted the Democrats and Biden have nothing to worry about. They can sit back and say, “I told you so.” So why try to stop it? Don’t they want that glory?

shimonyehuda
shimonyehuda
2 years ago

where does the money really go? To Trumps pockets.

Circle
Circle
2 years ago

It’s amazing how hard people are fighting to prevent an audit . Obviously, to some, democracy means trust your opponent and don’t dare verify.

my real name
my real name
2 years ago

The dead giveaway that there was Chinese interference in the election: the ballots said choose one from Column A and one from Column B.

HaShomer
HaShomer
2 years ago

Since the GOP knows it can’t win elections based on policy or demographics, they need to suppress the vote to try to win. This anti-American anti-democratic impulse for power will result in the end of the GOP. Just watch.