by Corinne Murdock | Aug 10, 2022 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
On Monday evening, FBI agents raided former President Donald Trump’s household-name Florida home, Mar-a-Lago. The Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeking at least 15 boxes of missing records from Trump’s administration that the National Archives seeks to recover.
Mainstream media received the inside scoop, many making retroactive edits and falling in line with a euphemistic switch from “raid” to “search” preferred by former and current Biden administration officials. Establishment media knowledge of the raid outpaced what Republican elected officials told the public they knew.
A number of unnamed insiders supplied details of the raid to the following outlets: Axios, Reuters, CNN reported that the raid concerned potentially classified documents taken by Trump, NBC reported that the search warrant was connected to the National Archives, the Washington Post reported that the potentially classified documents in question may have been taken to Trump’s residence instead of sent to the National Archives, and Politico reported that paper records were seized.
The Arizona Republican Party said that the Biden administration crossed an “unprecedented line” in American history. The organization called on Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) to seek an explanation for the raid, which they claimed was a historical level of political targeting.
“[Biden’s] administration has weaponized the Judicial System — the raid at President Trump’s home was an act of political warfare,” stated the organization.
Neither Kelly or Sinema have commented on the Trump raid, as of press time. When Tuesday came, they focused their messaging on President Joe Biden’s passage of the CHIPS and Science Act: a $280 billion package with $52 billion in subsidies to increase domestic production of semiconductor chips, also called “integrated circuits” (ICs) or “microchips.” Both Democratic senators issued support in the hopes that Arizona would attract manufacturing plants from Intel and other companies.
The Arizona Democratic Party issued their response to the Trump raid in the context of the statement released by Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake. Their party didn’t comment on the legitimacy or significance of the raid.
“Be wary of someone seeking government office who doesn’t understand the law, and pours fuel on the fire when issues arise,” said the organization.
Governor Doug Ducey didn’t remark on the raid. His silence wouldn’t be uncharacteristic. The Republican Governors Association (RGA) convened last November at the Biltmore resort in Scottsdale to plan the defeat of Trump-endorsed candidates.
Trump’s endorsed candidates swept the primaries last week. Lake, Blake Masters (U.S. Senate), Paul Gosar (incumbent, U.S. House), Mark Finchem (secretary of state), Abraham Hamadeh (attorney general), David Farnsworth (Arizona House), Anthony Kern (Arizona Senate), Wendy Rogers (Arizona Senate), Robert Scantlebury (Arizona Senate), and Janae Shamp (Arizona Senate) secured their spots as the Republican candidates for November.
Arizona’s Republican congressional leaders spoke out against the Trump raid.
Congresswoman Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08) pointed out that the FBI was fixated on Trump but ignoring claims of corruption linked to the Biden family, via the evidence of Hunter Biden’s laptop, and Hillary Clinton via her mass email deletion.
“This seems to be yet another example of the Department of Justice’s hypocrisy and political bias,” stated Lesko.
Lesko pledged to investigate DOJ abuses if Republicans secure the majority come November. Congressman Paul Gosar (R-AZ-04) went one step further. He pledged support to get rid of the FBI.
Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) said that he’s attempted to gather insight on why the FBI raided Trump’s home.
“The only thing missing from the unprecedented FBI raid at President Trump’s home is Muammar Gaddafi’s sunglasses and cap on Joe Biden,” tweeted Biggs. “I stand by President Donald J. Trump.”
Not all Democratic congressional leaders spoke out on the issue, but the one who did sided with the FBI.
Congressman Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-07) urged Trump to publicize a copy of the warrant.
The House Oversight Committee requested that FBI Director Christopher Wray provide it with a briefing.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declared Tuesday that neither Biden or anyone in the White House had knowledge of the raid. Insiders that informed Politico of the raid confirmed the White House’s denial.
On Tuesday, Trump posted a campaign-style video that concluded with the statement, “the best is yet to come.” The post and its rhetoric led to speculations that Trump would launch a third presidential candidacy.
“We are a nation that’s become a joke. But soon we will have greatness again,” said Trump. “As long as we are confident and united, the tyrants we are fighting do not even stand even a little chance, because we are Americans and Americans kneel to God and God alone. It’s time to start talking about greatness yet again,” said Trump.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Terri Jo Neff | Aug 9, 2022 | Economy, News
By Terri Jo Neff |
The Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry is hoping the U.S. House of Representatives takes a hard look at H.R. 5376, which was formerly known as the Build Back Better Act until being recently rechristened as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
“Arizona job creators oppose the vast majority of the provisions in this bill,” Chamber CEO Danny Seiden said Sunday after the U.S. Senate passed the legislation on party lines. “This bill will not reduce inflation and it will not make the U.S. economy more competitive. Renaming a massive tax and spending bill the Inflation Reduction Act does not improve it.”
Seiden says Sen. Kyrsten Sinema met with Arizona business stakeholders to hear their concerns and did help blunt some of the more harmful provisions, especially those which impact manufacturing businesses already doubly hit by inflation and supply chain disruptions
He also acknowledged there are a few beneficial elements of H.R. 5376 such as provisions which encourage continued business investment and provide significant drought resiliency funding to promote a water secure future.
But despite some of “positive aspects,” Seiden insists H.R. 5376 leaves much to be desired. Which is why he and other state business leaders are calling on Arizona’s nine Representatives to take a closer look at the bill in advance of an expected Aug. 12 vote.
“With the bill headed to the House, we would encourage the Arizona delegation to consider the legislation’s negative effect on Arizona jobs,” Seiden said, adding that that renaming the unpopular Build Back Better Act does not improve the fact the legislation is a massive tax and spending bill.
The legislation is estimated to raise $740 billion in additional revenue from new taxes as well as more enforcement of existing tax laws. It also authorizes $430 billion in new spending, although a more thorough analysis by the Congressional Budget Office has not been completed.
One thing the CBO already knows, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders said on the Senate Floor, is that what he labeled the “so-called” Inflation Reduction Act will have “a minimal impact on inflation.”
The CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers also expressed disappointment with H.R. 5376. According to Jay Timmons, the Inflation Reduction Act will stifle manufacturing investment in America, undermining the very businesses which kept America’s economy afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“To be sure, (the bill) was worse before Sen. Sinema worked to protect some areas of manufacturing investment,” Timmons said. “But the final bill is still bad policy and will harm our ability to compete in a global economy.”
Also speaking out against H.R. 5376 is the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, whose members will be directly impacted by Medicare drug price controls included in the legislation.
“They say they’re fighting inflation, but the Biden administration’s own data show that prescription medicines are not fueling inflation,” said PhRMA CEO Stephen Ubl. “And they say the bill won’t harm innovation, but various experts, biotech investors and patient advocates agree that this bill will lead to fewer new cures and treatments for patients battling cancer, Alzheimer’s and other diseases.”
by Corinne Murdock | Aug 8, 2022 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Monday, the National Border Patrol Union (NBPC) advised New York Mayor Eric Adams to blame President Joe Biden of the bused-in migrants in his city. The NBPC also said that Adams’ problems were paltry compared to those facing the southern border states.
“[W]hat’s ‘horrific’ is dead bodies piling up in border states, truckloads of people suffocating in heat, the lawlessness and trashing of our border areas, courtesy of Biden,” tweeted the NBPC. “A few people getting off a bus in NYC instead of Long Island or upstate NY is not ‘horrific.’”
The NBPC’s criticism intones a similar message to that of Governor Doug Ducey. Last month, Ducey issued similar responses to Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Adams. The two mayors have complained about Ducey and Texas Governor Greg Abbott busing migrants to their cities.
Ducey clarified to Adams that Arizona didn’t send any migrants to New York. He told Bowser that she should take her complaints up with the leader of the nation and her party, Biden.
Migrant smuggling in vans is common, but one case captured national interest in June when two smugglers abandoned a tractor-trailer filled with illegal immigrants. 53 of the illegal immigrants inside died from heat stroke.
Also common along illegal immigrant routes: trash. Illegal immigrants discard trash as well as money, clothing, and any personal items that could identify them.
In April, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) warned the Biden administration that it should improve its data collection, reporting, and evaluation of migrant deaths. Data on migrant rescues and deaths, available through the Border Safety Initiative Tracking System (BSITS), hasn’t been sufficient for several years now, according to the GAO.
The Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office partnered with a Tucson nonprofit, Humane Borders, to create a public tracker of illegal immigrant deaths in Arizona: the “Arizona OpenGIS Initiative for Deceased Migrants.” Since January, their tracker reported 126 illegal immigrant deaths. Total deaths for 2021 were 225, and 223 in 2020; prior to that, deaths last reached over 200 in 2010.
Officials share repeatedly that the surge in illegal immigration from the ongoing border crisis imposes an unprecedented burden on local resources, like first responders.
Last week, Tucson Sector agents apprehended smugglers fleeing law enforcement: a dangerous chase that ended in a crash.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Aug 8, 2022 | Economy, News
By Corinne Murdock |
Over the weekend, Arizona’s two Democratic senators, Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema, fell in line with their party and backed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The IRA passed the Senate on Sunday along party lines, 51-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote.
The IRA, a repackaged version of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better (BBB) Act, projected well over $700 billion in revenue. However, some analysts have warned that the IRA will have the opposite desired effect on job creation, inflation and deficit reduction, incomes, tax rates, and drug prices.
The two senators opposed amendments to the IRA that would fund $500 million to finish the border wall, approve coal leases, increase domestic oil production in order to lower gas prices, protect those making under $400,000 from additional tax audits, limit price controls for treatments for conditions like cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, require oil and gas lease sales in the outer Continental Shelf, provide discounted insulin for low and middle-income Americans, remove $45 million in climate-related expenditures, retain Title 42, strike a tax increase resulting in higher energy prices for those earning under $400,000, hire more Border Patrol agents, reduce drug prices, invest in violent crime prevention, and prohibit tax credits for electric vehicles built with slave labor.
The IRA will also expand the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by up to 87,000 more employees through an $80 billion investment. That will make the IRS bigger than the Pentagon, State Department, FBI, and Border Patrol combined, as noted by Washington Free Beacon. IRS data reveals that over half of all IRS audits in 2021 focused on taxpayers making less than $75,000 a year.
All Democrats, including Kelly and Sinema, rejected an amendment to remove provisions expanding the IRS.
Arizonans gathered on Saturday in Phoenix to protest Sinema and Kelly’s support of the bill. FreedomWorks Grassroots Director and Co-founder of EZAZ.org Merissa Hamilton, who helped organize the protest, criticized Sinema and Kelly for supporting the IRS increase, which she called an “inquisition” comparable to the treatment of ideological opponents under the Obama administration.
“Clearly, your IRS inquisitions are to target us like you did the Obama-Biden administration, and we have had enough,” said Hamilton. “We’re already in the middle of a recession — I know it’s tough for you to say the “r” word, but it’s time for you to take responsibility, represent Arizona, and stop betraying us.”
An amendment to prevent oil sales to China was ruled out of order by Senate chair after Kelly and Sinema joined the majority of Democrats to waive it.
Sinema insisted that the IRA would “help Arizonans build better lives” through lowered prices on goods and services, accessible health care, and water and energy security. Sinema promised that the IRA would cause Arizona’s economy to improve.
As AZ Free News reported last week, Sinema’s original holdout on the IRA concerned its carried tax provision. Democratic leadership agreed to drop that provision in order to earn her vote.
Kelly elaborated further on the rationale for the Arizona senators’ votes. He said that the IRA will lower prescription drug costs, implement funding to effectively combat drought and “climate change,” and reduce the deficit. Kelly promised that the IRA wouldn’t result in increased taxes for small businesses and middle-class Arizonans.
“When I meet with Arizonans and small businesses across our state, the top concern I hear about is rising costs,” said Kelly. “This is going to lower costs for health care, prescription drugs, and energy while creating great-paying jobs in Arizona.”
Notable opposition to the IRA came from Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT). The senator criticized the IRA for not doing enough to help the working class, and proposed amendments to modify the bill that were roundly rejected, 99-1. However, Sanders ultimately fell in line with the Democratic Party and voted for the bill.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Terri Jo Neff | Aug 7, 2022 | News
By Terri Jo Neff |
Maricopa County has reported that more than 855,000 of its nearly 2.5 million voters cast ballots in the Aug. 2, 2022 Primary Election. Roughly 14,000 of those ballots were still in the pre-tabulation process as of Saturday, including 7,500 which were awaiting curing by voters no later than 5 p.m. on Aug. 9.
On Saturday, representatives of the political parties in Maricopa County completed a state-mandated hand count audit of four contests (including governor and U.S. senator) on 5,000 early ballots as well as ballots cast at five randomly selected voting centers.
With the hand count finished, there should be no problem completing the canvass of Maricopa County’s election results by the Aug. 12 statutory deadline. Canvassing is the act of officially certifying the election results, and is expected to be uneventful for the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.
The same cannot be said for Pinal County, which fired its Elections Director within hours of the polls closing. There is a possibility that legal action stemming from multiple problems could keep Pinal County’s board of supervisors from being able to do its canvass by the deadline.
As AZ Free News previously reported, Pinal County administers municipal elections for its 11 incorporated cities and towns. Due to “human error,” roughly 63,000 of the county’s 275,000 registered voters received incorrect early voting ballots last month.
Elections Director David Frisk accepted responsibility for the fact thousands of voters in Apache Junction, Casa Grande, Eloy, Mammoth, Maricopa, Queen Creek, and Superior received ballots without local races listed. Several thousand other voters who lived in unincorporated communities were incorrectly sent ballots which listing municipal races they were not eligible to vote in.
(Parts of Apache Junction and Queen Creek are in Maricopa County which reported no problems getting the correct ballots to its voters.)
Frisk and Pinal County officials assured the public the mistake could be resolved by not counting votes in mayor and council races if cast by non-municipal residents. The county then sent out supplemental ballots to affected municipal residents to use in additional to their original ballot which included federal, state, and legislative contests.
Yet just when county officials thought they had the early ballot snafu handled, reports began circulating the morning of Election Day that two of Pinal County’s 90+ polling stations did not open at 6 a.m. as required.
Those two locations were finally opened by 10 a.m., but by then Frisk and his staff were overwhelmed with reports that more than two dozen polling stations ran out of preprinted ballots. The ballot supply was also a responsibility which fell on Frisk, who was hired by the board of supervisors earlier this year with no experience in Arizona election laws or procedures
As Frisk was being fired, Pinal County Recorder Virginia Ross quit her elected position on Thursday and accepted an appointment as Elections Director, a responsibility she previously had as Recorder from 2013 to 2017 before a new Elections Director position was created going into the 2018 election cycle.
Ross’s shuffling of jobs created a vacancy in the elected office of County Recorder, which the county board of supervisors filled Friday by appointing Deputy County Recorder Dana Lewis to serve out Ross’ term through the end of 2024. Lewis previously worked in the Elections Department before Frisk was hired.
County officials then regrouped with their new leadership and announced plans to update elections results every night around 7:30 p.m. “including over the weekend” until all valid ballots were tabulated. And in a major announcement, the county publicly confirmed rumors of an ongoing problem in trying to process about 10,000 early ballots.
The problem also prevented a large number of voters from being able to track their ballot’s status online. But just hours after taking over their new roles, Ross and Lewis were able to fix the problem with assistance from the Pinal County IT team so those affected ballots could get tabulated.
The only other reported Election Day problem came out of Cochise County, where a few dozen people claimed that when they signed in to vote they were listed as previously signing in.
The problem appears to stem from the fact the poll workers and election observers signed in during a recent training session to understand how the system worked. The voting database was not purged by the Elections Department staff before official in-person voting began.
Some voters reportedly were given provisional ballots to cast while others were allowed to vote once the error was realized.
by Corinne Murdock | Aug 7, 2022 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Last Tuesday, the University of Arizona (UArizona) defended claims by one of its department heads that COVID-19 jumped from infected animals to humans at a Chinese wet market. UArizona’s news followed the publication of its department head’s research in Science magazine, picked up by mainstream media outlets like the New York Times and CBS News as proof of the wet market theory.
UArizona asserted that Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Department Head Michael Worobey’s research pinpointing the COVID-19 outbreak to the Huanen Seafood Market “virtually eliminate[d]” all other possibilities for COVID-19’s origins — though not ruling out the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where the U.S. funded research on coronaviruses.
Worobey’s research acknowledged that a significant percentage of the first individuals infected by COVID-19 neither worked or shopped at the market. Additionally, the research never tested market animals supposedly linked to the initial outbreak. As AZ Free News reported, Chinese police shut down and disinfected the market almost immediately. Chinese scientists’ research of the market only included samples of the market interiors and stray animals in January 2020. It wasn’t until one day before Worobey’s initial version of his research earlier this year that the Chinese scientists released their research — which ultimately conflicted with Worobey’s findings.
The Wuhan Institute of Virology is less than nine miles from the Huanan Seafood Market; about 30 minutes by car.
One of the principal researchers in the wet market studies, Kristian Anderson, claimed to CBS News that he was “convinced” of the lab leak himself prior to investigation. However, as AZ Free News reported in April, Andersen attacked evolutionary biologist Jesse Bloom for publishing a paper noting that several Chinese papers detailing SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequences predating the pandemic had disappeared. In response to the paper, Andersen accused Bloom of unethical behavior for investigating what Chinese scientists deleted, and told the public that genomic sequences from the Wuhan Institute of Virology weren’t relevant.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who received Bloom’s research, sided with Andersen’s take on the subject and defended the Chinese scientists. Fauci and National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins had a vested interest in supporting natural transmission theories rather than lab leaks due to their relationship with EcoHealth Alliance: the nonprofit research organization that funded the coronavirus bat research at Wuhan Institute of Virology.
As reported previously, emails obtained through public records requests revealed that EcoHealth Alliance CEO Peter Daszak thanked Fauci for using his platform to dismiss the lab leak theory as the origins of COVID-19 pandemic; Fauci responded in kind.
Other researchers in the papers defending the wet market theory appear to have reigning conflicts of interest as well. Virologist Robert Garry was hand-selected by Collins to dispute whistleblower research from summer 2021 that COVID-19 was engineered at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Netherlands molecular expert Marion Koopmans served on the World Health Organization (WHO) mission to China in early 2021 to analyze COVID-19’s origins, which resulted in an error-riddled report blaming wet market animals that WHO leadership rejected, later connected to plausible Chinese government interference and walked back on by several mission members.
This latest publication in Science magazine was the peer-reviewed and revised version of papers Worobey and his colleagues published in February proposing the wet market theory. At that time, too, the New York Times covered Worobey and his colleagues’ research in a feature story.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
