AZ state senator to AG Garland: ‘You will not touch Arizona ballots’ or you will go to jail

Former fighter pilot and Arizona state Senator Wendy Rogers is warning Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland to stay out of the election audit taking place in her state unless he wants to spend time in prison there.

Rogers was blunt, vowing to follow through if Garland violates the state’s rights.

“You will not touch Arizona ballots or machines unless you want to spend time in an Arizona prison. Maybe you should focus on stopping terrorism. The Justice Department is one of the most corrupt institutions in the USA,” she tweeted.

Her threat comes as Garland announced on Friday that the Justice Department is staffing up to apply “scrutiny” to election audits in Arizona that are looking into fraud connected with the 2020 presidential election. A report on election fraud in the state is expected this summer.

The Biden administration is evidently preparing to crack down on the Republican-led Arizona Senate’s review in Maricopa County. That movement has attracted the attention of GOP officials from numerous other states who are considering similar audits. The Garland threat is potentially setting up an explosive confrontation between federal authorities and state officials in Arizona.

(Video Credit: 12 News)

Garland was careful not to mention Maricopa County specifically, but he is setting the stage for a collision that echoes an inference by former Obama attorney general Eric Holder that called for a more “aggressively involved” Justice Department to pursue possible violations of federal law in election audits and to prosecute violators of those laws when deemed appropriate.

“As part of its mission to protect the right to vote, the Justice Department will, of course, do everything in its power to prevent election fraud, and if found, to vigorously prosecute it,” Garland declared.

“But many of the justifications proffered in support of these post-election audits and restrictions on voting have relied on assertions of material vote fraud in the 2020 election that have been refuted by law enforcement and intelligence agencies of both this administration and the previous one, as well as by every court, federal and state, that has considered them,” he stated. “Moreover, many of the changes are not even calibrated to address the kinds of voter fraud that are alleged as our justification.”

The attorney general is pushing the Civil Rights Division to hire more attorneys and is announcing that within 30 days the Justice Department will double its “enforcement staff for protecting the right to vote.”

Garland noted the Justice Department “will apply the same scrutiny to post-election audits to ensure they abide by federal statutory requirements to protect election records and avoid the intimidation of voters. In that regard, we will publish guidance explaining the civil and criminal statutes that apply to post-election audits.”

Arizona Senate President Karen Fann, who has previously stated that the audit is not meant to overturn the 2020 election results but instead to restore trust in the system, responded claiming the process was and will remain compliant with federal and state civil rights laws.

“Since the inception of the audit, I have emphasized the crucial importance of transparency and collaboration to its success. To that end, I am happy to provide any additional information and to continue a constructive dialogue with your office to advance our common objective of protecting the rights of voters and the integrity of our elections,” Fann proclaimed.

Republicans are determined to stand against Garland and his heavy-handed actions poised to interfere in Arizona’s election audit efforts.

Rogers did not mince words: “The free state of Arizona will not tolerate this federal meddling.”

Rogers warned that Garland would be in violation of the law if “he uses force.”

“Lawless thugs is all they will be!” she tweeted.

“Retweet if you think election audits are a state right!” declared a message from an anonymous “Audit War Room” account.

“100%,” Arizona Republican Party President Kelli Ward retweeted.

“The AZ Forensic Election Audit is the most comprehensive election audit in the history of [the] United States,” Sen. Doug Mastriano said in a press release. “Transparency is a must in our republic. Every citizen should be confident that their vote counts.”

Biden won Arizona with just over 10,000 votes out of more than 3.3 million ballots that were cast across the state. His razor-thin win of 2 percentage points was primarily due to his alleged advantage in Maricopa County where the audit is centered.

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