Maricopa County officials admitted that they deleted election files from equipment after purportedly archiving them prior to fulfilling the Arizona Senate’s subpoena for that equipment. Chairman Jack Sellers and Vice Chairman Bill Gates made this admission during the House Oversight Committee hearing on the Cyber Ninjas-led audit on Thursday. The supervisors’ main defense for deleting the records had to do with freeing space for future election files – but Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) pointed out that files from prior elections were on the equipment obtained by the subpoena.
Biggs’ line of questioning prompted the admission from Gates and Sellers. He first asked the Arizona Senate’s liaison to the election audit, Ken Bennett, if it was standard practice to delete files off a server after an election. Bennett said he “hoped not.” Gates initially attempted to characterize the deletion as mere maintenance.
“I would say that it is appropriate to maintain files, and that’s exactly what we did,” said Gates. “The deleted files had been discussed. They were archived.”
When Biggs asked Gates to clarify if those “maintain[ed]” files were deleted off servers after the election, Sellers nodded and added that the files were “archived.” Biggs then asked whether the Arizona Senate was given the archives as part of the subpoena.
“When you released these servers and this information to the auditors to begin with, they didn’t have access to those archives at first – is that fair to say?” asked Biggs.
“They did not subpoena those, that’s correct,” responded Gates.
Gates’ response prompted laughter from Biggs.
“Okay, so – you didn’t feel obligated to turn [the archives] over then, to them?” asked Biggs.
“We responded to the subpoena,” repeated Gates.
At that point, Bennett stated that it was “laughable” that the county essentially created a loophole in the subpoena by archiving files from the materials explicitly subpoenaed.
“I find it frankly laughable to suggest that a county in response to a subpoena could say ‘We will delete files from the hard drives and materials that we give to the auditors because we have those files archived on data that we did not give to the auditors when the subpoena said give all those records to the election,’” responded Bennett.
Maricopa County’s Twitter account stated that deleting files that have been archived is a standard practice after all elections. Biggs asked Gates to confirm this. Neither Gates or Sellers said they could confirm immediately.
“I just know that because there is limited space on these servers, when you have to run that election, you have to make room for the additional election data,” said Sellers. “I do think it’s important [to note] that our recorder will be answering every question in a timely fashion.”
“That’s the same recorder that campaigned that [previous county recorder] Adrian Fontes was incompetent and called him a criminal, and he’s the guy that was running the 2020 election – and you actually hired someone to oversee Mr. Fontes. Because you guys didn’t trust Mr. Fontes as well – is that the same Stephen Richer?” asked Biggs.
Sellers said he disagreed with Biggs’ characterization.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Last week, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer and Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman Bill Gates appeared in a video to speak out against the Senate’s audit. The pair had teamed up to support Republicans for Voting Rights within the Republican Accountability Project, the latest endeavor of the Democratic, “Never-Trump” group, Defending Democracy Together. They were one of the top-spending “dark money” groups in the 2020 election, spending over $15 million to either oppose previous President Donald Trump or support President Joe Biden. Contrary to how DDT characterizes itself, Open Secrets classifies DDT as “liberal.”
AZ Free News reached out to both Richer and Gates to inquire about this partnership. Gates didn’t respond by press time, but Richer did. Richer told AZ Free News that he decided to team up with Defending Democracy Together because he believed it was an opportunity to speak out against what led to January 6, which he said reminded him of the French Revolution. Richer also informed us that Defending Democracy Together approached him to appear in the video, and that he didn’t receive any compensation for his appearance.
“I took the opportunity to voice my opposition to January 6 and the lies that led to January 6,” stated Richer. “Standing up against something that looked like it was out of the playbook of the French Revolution is something that would hopefully make Edmund Burke – the godfather of modern conservatism – and anyone who supports law and order proud.”
In the video, Gates said that the auditing company, Cyber Ninjas, and the Arizona Senate have “desecrated our democracy” with their audit. He urged other Republican leaders to say that no fraud existed and that President Donald Trump really lost the election, in order to save our democracy. “If you aren’t willing to speak up now, as a Republican, when are you going to?” asked Gates. “You can’t worry about your electoral prospects because we may not have a democracy by the time that you have a reelection.”
Richer concurred with Gates’ pleadings, asking Republicans what their “line in the sand” was if it wasn’t the January 6 riot. He characterized the audit as a partisan effort led by conspiracy theorists.
“I wish there were more Republicans who would speak out about this audit. There has to be a line in the sand. If lying about the election system, lying about the very form of government to which you were elected, if January 6 isn’t your line in the sand, what is?” asked Richer.
Gates shared the video shortly after it was posted by the Republican Accountability Project. “Conspiracy-driven, partisan audits only further ‘The Big Lie’ and chip away at the foundations of our democracy,” tweeted Gates. “To my fellow Republicans, it’s time to tell the truth. If not now, when? Our republic depends on it.” https://twitter.com/billgatesaz/status/1441455035901227009 The Republican Accountability Project calls January 6 an “insurrection.” By law, an insurrection is a violent uprising or rebellion against the government. The project also ranks those that many call “Republicans In Name Only” (RINOs) as “excellent,” such as Representatives Adam Kinzinger (R-IN-16) and Liz Cheney (R-WY), as well as Senators Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Ben Sasse (R-NE). True Republicans back the traditional party values of low taxation, limited government, deregulation, conservative lifestyles, capitalism, and the free market.
By definition, those in charge of Defending Democracy Together aren’t Republicans.
One of the directors, Amanda Carpenter, is a CNN political commentator and author of “GASLIGHTING AMERICA: Why We Love It When Trump Lies to Us.” Another director, Olivia Troye, pledged to vote for Biden – she was previously in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and a top aide to previous Vice President Mike Pence.
The founding director and current chairman of Defending Democracy Together, Bill Kristol, chairman, came out as a Democrat last year. Although, Kristol’s tax filings indicate that he’s been a Democrat for years.
Sarah Longwell, executive director and co-founder of Defending Democracy Together, as well as spokeswoman for Republicans for the Rule of Law went door knocking for Biden’s campaign last year and presumably voted for him.
The full transcript of the video is reproduced below:
Gates: What the Cyber Ninjas and the Arizona Senate has done is to desecrate our democracy.
Richer: This is a partisan audit that is driven by conspiracy theorists.
Gates: I’m Bill Gates and I’m Vice Chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.
Richer: My name is Stephen Richer, and I’m the Maricopa County Recorder.
Gates: We have to tell people the truth: there’s no evidence of fraud and that Donald Trump lost the election. If you aren’t willing to speak up now, as a Republican, when are you going to? You can’t worry about your electoral prospects because we may not have a democracy by the time that you have a reelection.
Richer: I wish there were more Republicans who would speak out about this audit. There has to be a line in the sand. If lying about the election system, lying about the very form of government to which you were elected, if January 6 isn’t your line in the sand, what is?
