Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich on Monday defended his state’s election audit while pushing back against politically motivated meddling by US Attorney General Merrick Garland, the Washington Examiner reported.
Brnovich reminded Garland about the 10th Amendment, which gives states authority within their own borders.
“We stand ready to defend federalism and state sovereignty against any partisan attacks or federal overreach” Brnovich wrote in a letter dated June 14.
Brnovich reasserted the Arizona Senate’s right to conduct and monitor the state’s elections.
“My office is not amused by the DOJ’s posturing and will not tolerate any effort to undermine or interfere with our State Senate’s audit to reassure Arizonans of the accuracy of our elections,” he wrote.
Brnovich’s letter responds to public comments that Garland made last Friday and to a May 4 letter from Pamela Karlan, the principal deputy assistant attorney general at the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.
Following talking points first devised by Democrat activist groups and lawyers—including notorious election attorney Marc Elias—Karlan threatened to file charges under archaic anti-racism statutes against those conducting the Maricopa County audit.
“[Karlan’s] letter appeared more interested in supporting the hysterical outcries of leftist pundits on cable television, rather than the rule of law,” Brnovich wrote.
Despite the DOJ harassment, several other disputed states—including Georgia and Pennsylvania—have indicated that they may proceed with their own audits in counties where evidence of fraud was rampant in the 2020 presidential election.
If indisputable evidence were presented in those three states alone, it would call into question the decision by the Electoral College to declare Democrat Joe Biden the winner, thereby posing an unprecedented constitutional crisis.
In his recent remarks, Garland promised that the Justice Department would scrutinize all post-election audits for infringements of federal voting law.
Acting like Biden’s personal attorney rather than the top US law-enforcement officer, he dismissed the widespread concerns of election fraud.
“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,” Garland said.
Arizona state Sen. Wendy Rogers, in a tweet, also defended her state’s authority against Garland’s threats.
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.https://t.co/Jl2pKNpfJR
— Wendy Rogers (@WendyRogersAZ) June 11, 2021
Brnovich announced last week that he will challenge incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., in next year’s election.
Kelly allegedly ousted Republican Martha McSally in a special election last year to fill the seat vacated by the late John McCain.
However, Kelly’s is considered to be one of the most endangered Senate seats due to the Biden administration’s callous handling of the border crisis, which has hit Arizona particularly hard.
Brnovich noted the common thread between the open-borders policy and the administration’s opposition to election integrity.
“Arizona will not sit back and let the Biden administration abuse its authority, refuse to uphold laws, or attempt to commandeer our state’s sovereignty,” Brnovich wrote as part of his announcement.
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.
