Cyber Ninjas CEO’s Text Messages About Arizona ‘Audit’ Reveal Frequent Contacts with Election Deniers

As local officials in Cochise County, Ariz., face lawsuits for refusing to certify the results of the 2022 midterms, American Oversight has obtained additional records from last year’s discredited “audit” of Maricopa County’s 2020 vote, including text messages with conspiracy theorists pushing the same lies fueling today’s ongoing election denial.

The partisan “audit,” initiated following the 2020 presidential election by the Arizona Senate and conducted by lead contractor Cyber Ninjas, was heavily influenced by lies about a stolen election and helped inspire other absurd election “investigation” efforts. 

The latest documents — released the day before Thanksgiving in response to American Oversight’s lawsuit for records related to the “audit” — were formerly held by Cyber Ninjas and include text messages sent and received by former CEO Doug Logan. The messages show Logan communicating with a wide cast of Trump-allied election deniers and provide more insight into how “audit” leaders’ helped sow distrust in U.S. democracy. 

Anticipated Future Audits and Anti-Democratic Efforts

Evidence uncovered through our investigation into the Maricopa County “audit” demonstrated that it was launched with the predetermined goal of finding fraud that would discredit the results of the 2020 election. The newly released messages also show how the election deniers in charge of the “audit” anticipated similar efforts to follow in other states across the country. 

In a set of texts exchanged on June 16, 2021, between Logan and Todd Sanders, of “audit” funder the America Project, the two discussed technical details that could be relevant for “a future audit” in Pennsylvania. After Sanders asked Logan if he knew anybody who had “cloned [an ESS] server” and specified that he was thinking of Pennsylvania, Logan responded, “I’ll see what I can dig up to gain experience. If my company is still solvent to do that audit, LOL.”

In September of that year, Republicans in the Pennsylvania Senate launched a “forensic investigation” of the state’s 2020 election results. That same month, a Cyber Ninjas ally wrote, in a message we obtained, that “PA will be one of the next domino’s [sic] to fall,” mirroring language often used by election conspiracy theorists. (Cyber Ninjas did not conduct the Pennsylvania Senate’s investigation and shut down due to financial problems in January 2022.)

Logan also hinted at the possibility of more “audits” in a June 2021 email about funding: “Have we had any more money come into TAP?” Logan asked Sanders, likely referring to the America Project. “Is it just being allocated to the next audit, or is there really nothing?” Later in the exchange, Logan wrote that he was “still awaiting to hear back from Kelli for a time to talk” and that he was “supposed to talk to Sidney later today,” likely referring to Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward and Donald Trump-allied attorney and “audit” funder Sidney Powell. Later, Logan wrote that Powell “says she’ll send something small.”

The messages also highlight “audit” leaders’ interest in potentially discrediting certain votes. On June 12, Logan exchanged texts with a recipient named Seth, likely election fraud conspiracy theorist Seth Keshel. The message recipient asked if “after the count, the ballots are all checked for legality.” Logan said, “That is the point of the paper examination.” 

The recipient asked, “What about the illegals, out of state residents, gays voting?” Logan replied, “That part is indefinitely delayed… but hoping to kick that off soon.” It is unclear what process or stage of the “audit” they are referring to.

Connections to Donald Trump

On June 27, 2021, election denier and “audit” ally Phil Waldron told Logan that “Kurt is going to talk to 45 today about $$.” While the identity of Kurt is unclear from the records, Waldron may have been referring to the election-denying lawyer Kurt Olsen. Waldron added, “Mike L talking to Corey L,” referring to Trump ally Mike Lindell and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. 

On July 16, Waldron asked Logan if he had received “a 1mil [payment] from Corey Lewendowsk [sic]” and added that “supposedly Kurt talked to trump and they got 1 mil for you.” Logan said he had never received $1 million at once and that he had not “received anything directly.” It is unclear if this payment ever went through. 

Last summer, American Oversight uncovered records revealing Senate President Karen Fann’s frequent contact with Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani in the weeks after the 2020 election, including an email to a constituent in which Fann said she had received “a personal call” from former President Trump “thanking us for pushing to prove any fraud.”

Canvassing Operations and Work with Conspiracy Theorists 

In his messages, Logan also referenced the 2021 canvassing effort led by Arizona Republican Liz Harris. Harris’ unofficial canvassing operations involved volunteers going door to door to ask voters what method they used to vote and to verify their registration, a tactic the Senate had originally planned for its “audit” but canceled in May after the Justice Department warned that it could lead to voter intimidation. 

On Aug. 12, 2021, Logan messaged Mike Roman, a leader of the America Project’s “audit” funding effort, writing, “I am meeting with the canvas/voter roll group this morning.” In a Sept. 2 conversation with the recipient who appears to be Seth Keshel, Logan wrote that Harris’ “canvassing is, per the Senate, officially not part of the audit.” ​​Despite the Senate’s attempts to distance itself from Harris’ efforts, records previously obtained by American Oversight indicated that “audit” leaders were aware of the canvassing and that Harris remained in contact with Logan through at least September 2021. 

In the same conversation with “Seth,” Logan also mentioned the work of conspiracy theorist and “audit” subcontractor Jovan Pulitzer, whose findings Logan said “seem[ed] half-baked” at that time. Logan wrote, “Anything he releases as part of Liz’s report can’t be part of our audit report.” 

Another set of records obtained by American Oversight revealed that Logan had received an email that April from a lawyer working for Cyber Ninjas who warned that Pulitzer “would be a public relations disaster” and that he had an “explosive temper.” Logan forwarded this message to Fann, writing, “FYI, this is a huge issue.” American Oversight previously obtained a subcontract signed on May 6, 2021, between Pulitzer and Cyber Ninjas for $210,000, an amount Pulitzer said was a “deep discounting” from his original cost of $2.1 million.  

Another email shows that Logan was in close contact with election-denying lawyer Matt DePerno during the early months of “audit” planning. DePerno had led a lawsuit accusing Antrim County, Mich., of voter fraud in late 2020, relying on unfounded allegations that were debunked by experts and arguments that were later dismissed by the court. Logan was an “expert witness” in that case.

In a March 2021 email, Logan told the Arizona Senate’s attorney Kory Langhofer that he had “pinged Matt Deperno the Antrim attorney about this report review” and that he needed “to get an okay with Matt before sharing anything besides high-level information.” Logan may have been referring to Cyber Ninjas’ statement of work and contract for the upcoming “audit.” 

Patrick Byrne and The America Project

The messages also reveal tensions between Cyber Ninjas and the America Project, the “audit” funder led by Trump ally and businessman Patrick Byrne. In a June 2021 message to Andre McCoy — who was one of Pennsylvania’s fake electors and helped on the “audit” — Logan wrote, “no America Project people at the coliseum [the location of the ballot recount] going forward. If they want to fix that, they can talk to me.” 

In multiple messages, Logan also appeared to be frustrated at how he was depicted in an election misinformation documentary produced by Byrne. Documents we previously obtained include a July 5 message in which Logan indicated that “funding issues” with the America Project “are real” and directed supporters to donate money to other organizations instead. As of September 2021, the America Project had, according to records we obtained, contributed $3.25 million to the effort, the majority of that amount donated by Byrne directly. 

On Oct. 1, 2021, Logan wrote to a colleague, “As far as I’m aware, TAP has raised very little. Patrick has just written checks.” He added, “I don’t think they raised more than $500k of what was donated.” Logan also wrote, “Patrick has suggested he’ll write some checks; but no commitment” and “he, like others, think I compromised and I should have made a bigger statement.” Logan may have been referring to the findings in Cyber Ninjas’ final “audit” report, released the previous week, which had cast doubt on election processes but confirmed Joe Biden’s victory.

American Oversight is investigating threats to democracy across the state of Arizona. We have filed numerous open records requests, including requests seeking documents related to the Cochise County Board of Supervisors’ decision to hand count 2022 ballots, and the county’s communications with election denier and state Rep. Mark Finchem. You can read more about American Oversight’s investigation into the Maricopa County “audit” here.