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GOP-led Arizona board of supervisors calls for end to "sham" election audit

May. 18, 2021 05:43AM EST
 Dan Ackermann

The Republican-led Maricopa County Board of Supervisors on Monday urged the Arizona Senate's GOP-led audit of its 2020 presidential election results to be called off in a letter Monday.

Why it matters: The letter underscores divisions in the GOP between loyalists of former President Trump and those denouncing baseless election claims, which saw Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) ousted last Wednesday as the third-highest ranking House Republican after speaking out on the matter.

  • The county officials said in the letter that the audit had left Arizona "a laughingstock." "Worse, this 'audit' is encouraging our citizens to distrust elections, which weakens our democratic republic."

The big picture: The Florida-based Cyber Ninjas, whose chief has supported unfounded voter fraud claims of voter fraud, is recounting ballots from the election.

  • Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jack Sellers (R) said at a public meeting Monday he would not be responding to "any more requests from this sham process," per the Washington Post.
  • Trump has continued to make unfounded claims about the county's election results, claiming Saturday that the "entire Database of Maricopa County in Arizona has been DELETED!"
  • Per WashPost, County Recorder Stephen Richer told the meeting: "Every file the Senate has asked for is there. No files from the 2020 election have been deleted."

The other side: State Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Warren Petersen (R) tweeted that he was "disappointed to hear that the County has said they will not show to answer questions" at a meeting scheduled on the matter for Tuesday.

American father and son plead guilty to helping former Nissan chair Carlos Ghosn flee Japan

Americans Michael Taylor and Peter Taylor pleaded guilty in a Tokyo court Monday to helping former Nissan chair Carlos Ghosn escape Japan in a box aboard a plane in 2019, per the Wall Street Journal.

The big picture: Ghosn was awaiting trial in Tokyo on financial misconduct charges following his 2018 arrest when he fled to Lebanon. He denies any wrongdoing.

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Why it matters: Although it's unclear why the DOJ took the action, such a move against a senior lawyer representing the presidency is highly unusual.

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Driving the news: DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz announced Friday an internal investigation into the matter, and Pelosi expressed disbelief to CNN's Dana Brash at assertions that neither Barr nor Sessions knew of probes into lawmakers.

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  • Clark, who took over the top job in March, said those House Democrats "had really helped push business's number one priority, which was the free trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, over the finish line."
  • "All of the Republicans that we work with on tax, on regulation — those people are really, really important to us," she added: "So we have to be willing to have a different coalition on every issue."
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Driving the news: Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi sat down with "Axios on HBO" at IAEA headquarters in Vienna, ahead of Iran's June 18 presidential election and a June 24 extension on negotiations seeking to restore curtailed surveillance of Iranian nuclear sites and salvage the 2015 deal.

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U.N. ambassador Thomas-Greenfield sees tough Putin summit

Photo: "Axios on HBO"

Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., told me on "Axios on HBO" that President Biden will be candid, frank — and tough — during this week's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

  • "The president will make clear to the Russians that they cannot harbor cyber terrorists and criminals in their country and not be held accountable for it," she added. "And they need to take the responsibility for dealing with this issue."
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Dems’ go-it-alone approach faces big hurdles as left’s frustrations spill over

If a bipartisan group of lawmakers fails to strike a deal on the infrastructure proposal it's negotiating with the White House, ramming through a package using the partisan reconciliation process isn't a guaranteed solution.

Why it matters: Getting 51 Democratic votes would be a long, uphill battle. And moderates within the party are balking at the cost of President Biden's spending — even as progressives openly lament that the "transformational" change they seek is slipping out of reach.

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