News Roundup: More Bogus Audits, Trump’s Covid-19 Postcards, and the Costs of ‘Operation Lone Star’

As we wrote last week, it did not matter that the sham “audit” of votes cast in Maricopa County repeated what had already been confirmed by actual independent audits — that Joe Biden defeated Trump. The election review’s primary outcome was in keeping conspiracy theories and lies about voter fraud alive for the multiple months it dragged on.

Proof of its success in fueling the Big Lie came on Thursday, the night before it presented its flawed and misleading final report. Within hours of Donald Trump sending a public letter to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott demanding a “Forensic Audit of the 2020 Election,” the Texas secretary of state’s office put out a statement saying the office had already begun a review of votes in four large counties, three of which went to Biden in 2020.

In the days that followed, county officials told news outlets they hadn’t received any requests for election materials from the secretary of state, and it wasn’t until Tuesday night that the office provided more information about the scope of the effort.

While officials in Texas and elsewhere defend the continued re-litigation of what was a safe and secure election, recent months have shown that those who firmly believe, without evidence, that widespread voter fraud played a role in the 2020 election will not be appeased. Arizona’s partisan review is a case in point:

• This week, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich directed Maricopa County to retain records and the Senate to share evidence from the “audit” so that his office can investigate “some serious questions regarding the 2020 election.” As the Arizona Republic wrote, Brnovich “did not say specifically what those questions were, nor provide details about the direction of his office’s investigation.”
• State Sen. Sonny Borrelli said the report by lead “audit” contractor Cyber Ninjas indicates that the 2020 election results should be “nullified.”
• State Rep. Mark Finchem said that an audit of Pima County, Ariz., was now needed.

“Significant parts of the right treated the completion of the Arizona review as a vindication — offering a fresh canard to justify an accelerated push for new voting limits and measures to give Republican state lawmakers greater control over elections,” wrote the New York Times. “The Arizona review, and similar partisan election investigations around the country, are one spear in a multipronged effort by Mr. Trump and his allies to dispute the outcome of the 2020 race and to overhaul future American elections.”

The House Oversight Committee will hold a hearing on the Arizona Senate’s partisan review on Oct. 7, and has requested the testimony of Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan. And on Thursday, we published a review of new documents released in response to our litigation for “audit” records. Some headlines from other states:

• A Colorado elections supervisor embraced conspiracy theories. Officials say she has become an insider threat. (Washington Post)
• Pennsylvania’s top prosecutor sues to block subpoenas issued as part of Senate GOP election investigation (Pennsylvania Capital-Star)
• Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers says election officials should be ‘lawyered up’ as partisan review of 2020 ramps up (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

On the Records

Trump White House Removed Mask-Wearing Guidance from Postcards
In March 2020, the White House prepared to send postcards with Covid-19-related public health guidelines to households across the United States. But records obtained by American Oversight show that as the country grappled with a nationwide shortage of masks — and a White House that would soon make mask-wearing a dangerously politicized exercise — guidelines about face coverings were omitted from the final mailer.

The Cost of Abbott’s ‘Operation Lone Star’
The Washington Post wrote about Texas Gov. Abbott’s aggressive immigration enforcement actions this year, dubbed Operation Lone Star, and the hundreds of people held for weeks without charges as the justice system became overwhelmed. The story cites documents released to American Oversight by the Texas Department of Public Safety, which said that the operation’s weekly overtime, travel, and fuel costs totaled more than $2.3 million.

The Pandemic and Cruises
We obtained records from 2020 that shed more light on the cruise industry’s response to the pandemic. Among them are an email from Norwegian Cruise Lines President Frank Del Rio, in which he expresses frustration with changes in the CDC’s travel warning system, saying the CDC was “kicking us while we’re down.” Read more here.

Withheld EPA Report on Formaldehyde
The EPA used a FOIA exemption for “deliberative” information to withhold a report on formaldehyde’s cancer risks from the organization Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. A former EPA official has now said the report was in fact finalized. We previously obtained documents showing EPA employees’ reactions to the withheld report, with one scientist lamenting that it was “squashed like a bug.”

Other Stories We’re Following

The Coronavirus Pandemic

• Messy, incomplete U.S. data hobbles pandemic response (Washington Post)
• Covid is killing rural Americans at twice the rate of urbanites (Kaiser Health News)
• Network of right-wing health care providers is making millions of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, hacked data reveals (Intercept)
• Pfizer vaccine for kids may not be available until November (Associated Press)
• Alabama governor defends plan to use Covid relief funds to build new prisons (Washington Post)
• Pill to treat Covid-19 cuts the risk of death by half, says Merck, which will seek its emergency authorization (CNN)

National News

• Trump’s Mar-a-Lago buddies tried to get the VA to sell access to veterans’ medical records (ProPublica)
• DHS issues new arrest and deportation guidelines to immigration agents (Washington Post)
• Protected too late: U.S. officials report more than 20 extinctions (New York Times)

Jan. 6 and the Big Lie

• Panel subpoenas 11 in Capitol riot inquiry, eyeing Jan. 6 rally planners (New York Times)
• Trump plans to sue to keep White House records on Capitol attack secret (Guardian)
• ‘No major incidents of illegal activity’: DHS told Pentagon as pro-Trump mob breached Capitol (Politico)
• Covert Postal Service unit probed Jan. 6 social media (Politico)
• Election fraud, QAnon, Jan. 6: Far-right extremists in Germany read from a pro-Trump script (Washington Post)

In the States

• As daughter sought state license, South Dakota Gov. Noem summoned agency head (Associated Press)
• In a California desert, sheriff’s deputies settle schoolyard disputes. Black teens bear the brunt. (ProPublica)
• DeSantis hikes surgeon general salary by 72%, as other Florida agency heads get increases, too (South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• In Texas, corrupt politicians face little accountability (Texas Observer)
• Texas governor to Border Patrol agents under investigation: ‘I will hire you’ (Politico)
• Michigan GOP initiative to restrict voting access gets approval to gather signatures (Michigan Advance)
• GOP to massively step up 2022 poll watching efforts in Michigan and across U.S. (Detroit Free Press)
• Georgia lawmakers back on summer beach convention circuit (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Redistricting

• Lawsuit: Alabama congressional map ‘racially gerrymandered’ (Associated Press)
• Texas appears to be paying a secretive Republican political operative $120,000 annually to work behind the scenes on redistricting (Texas Tribune)
• ‘Snakes, tentacles and dragons’: GOP boosts incumbents with new Texas congressional map (Politico)
• Voting rights groups sue Ohio over redistricting map (New York Times)
• Kemp calls special session to redraw Georgia’s political maps (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Wisconsin Republicans have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt a redistricting case (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)