The Republican official who heads up the Arizona county elections department that is subject to an ongoing audit of the results from the 2020 presidential election has publicly lashed out against former President Donald Trump for spreading lies. Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer didn’t just criticize Trump, he also pointed the finger at other fellow Republicans who allow the misinformation to continue. Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer took to Twitter on Saturday to call a Trump statement that claimed the county had deleted an elections database as “unhinged,” assuring absolutely nothing had happened to the archive. “We can’t indulge these insane lies any longer. As a party. As a state. As a country. This is as readily falsifiable as 2+2=5. If we don’t call this out…” Richer wrote on Twitter.
Richer sent the tweet after Trump issued a statement in which he said there had been a “DELETION of an entire Database and critical Election files,” which he characterized as “unprecedented.” Richer said Trump’s statement amounted a “plain-as-day lie.”
Richer, who has been in the job since January after defeating the Democratic incumbent, has been pushing back against election fraud claims that are being pushed by Republican leaders. “Enough with the defamation. Enough with the unfounded allegations,” Richer tweeted Thursday. He expressed frustration that instead of focusing on his job he now has to defend himself from accusations “of shredding ballots and deleting files” coming from members of his own party.
Richer isn’t the only one pushing back. Jack Sellers, a Republican who is the chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has been publicly criticizing the company that was hired to do the audit. “I know you all have grown weary of lies and half-truths six months after 2020 General Elections,” Sellers said as he announced a public hearing Monday to push back against the lies that are being peddled about the election. The hearing is taking place after Republican Senate President Karen Fann said “serious issues” had been found in the audit. But Sellers says that has more do with their ignorance of elections than anything else. “It’s clearer by the day: the people hired by the Senate are in way over their heads,” Sellers said. “This is not funny; this is dangerous.”
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