Arizona‘s Republican legal professional common, Mark Brnovich, on Friday requested the FBI and IRS to look into an election integrity group that claimed to have uncovered widespread fraud within the 2020 election however by no means offered proof.
True the Vote, a nonprofit group, has raised “appreciable sums of cash” on its declare that it had proof of widespread fraud and will have damaged federal tax legal guidelines, Reggie Grigsby, a felony investigator in Brnovich’s workplace, wrote to federal authorities.
Leaders from True The Vote promised repeatedly over the course of a yr to offer information supporting their declare that folks illegally collected ballots and delivered them to drop containers through the 2020 election, Grigsby wrote.
The declare was on the heart of “2,000 Mules,” a debunked movie that was aggressively promoted by former President Donald Trump to again up his declare he misplaced the presidency due to fraud.
However True the Vote Founder Catherine Engelbrecht and contractor Gregg Phillips by no means offered the information they promised to the legal professional common’s workplace regardless of claiming publicly that that they had, Grigsby wrote. In June, they advised state investigators that they had given their information to the FBI whereas telling the FBI that the supplies got to the legal professional common’s workplace.
Representatives from the group didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark Friday night.
Guarantees to analyze and expose fraud are an enormous fundraising draw amongst Trump supporters who imagine the previous president’s lies in regards to the 2020 election. A number of teams, for instance, raised greater than $5 million for a discredited audit of the 2020 election in Maricopa County, Arizona. That audit was carried out by Trump supporters on behalf of state Senate Republicans.
Federal and state election officers and Trump’s personal legal professional common have stated there isn’t any credible proof the 2020 election was tainted. Trump’s allegations of fraud had been additionally roundly rejected by courts, together with by judges he appointed.
The referral to federal investigators is notable from Brnovich, who put his election investigations on the heart of his unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate. Brnovich’s marketing campaign struggled after Trump assailed him for failing to arrest individuals based mostly on discredited claims from the Maricopa County audit and the “2,000 Mules” movie.
