A Colorado man who wrote online about how he had the right to execute then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and made similar threats against Jena Griswold, the Colorado secretary of state, was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison.

Teak Ty Brockbank blamed being exposed to far-right extremism content online, including the QAnon conspiracy theory, for motivating him to make online threats.

In the criminal complaint for the case, FBI agents included posts from Brockbank that included the common QAnon catchphrase “WWG1WGA” and references to other QAnon beliefs.

Acronyms are popular among the QAnon community, and the most well known is WWG1WGA, meaning “Where We Go One, We Go All,” a phrase used as a rallying cry among the “digital soldiers” of the QAnon community.

Brockbank’s online avatar was a version of a cartoon frog that has become popular in antisemitic, conspiracy theory and racist online circles.

In August 2022, Brockbank posted on the video service Rumble, which has become a favorite platform for misinformation, that people like Hobbs and Griswold were committing treason for alleged election fraud. There is no evidence of widespread election fraud or election fraud perpetrated by Hobbs or Griswold.

“Once these people start getting put to death then the rest will melt like snowflakes and turn on each other and we will sit back why (sic) the worst of them get pointed against the wall as well,” Brockbank wrote in a comment on a Rumble video. “This is the only way. So those of us that have the stomach for what has to be done should prepare our minds for what we All are going to do!!!!!!”

Brockbank, who used to live in Cave Creek, also claimed that he had a right to “execute” Hobbs in public.

“[W]e the people have every right to walk up to one of them and execute them for their actions,” Brockbank wrote in another comment on Rumble.

FBI agents also discovered posts Brockbank made stating that, if federal agents came to his residence, he would murder them.

“ATF CIA FBI show up to my house I am shooting them peace’s (sic) of s--- first No Warning!!” Brockbank wrote in response to a post about the arrest of an ATF agent. “Then I will call the sheriff!!! With everything that these piece of shit agencies have done I am completely justified to just start dropping them as soon as they step on my property!”

While Brockbank said in court that he regrets his decisions and has blamed drinking for his behavior, the U.S. Department of Justice in a recent filing pointed to threatening remarks he aimed at federal officials as recently as 2024 and the discovery he was possessing firearms, when he is a prohibited felony possessor, as indicators of his insincerity.

“There was so much ammunition in the residence that agents elected not to count it,” the DOJ wrote. “The firearm near the front door, moreover, was loaded and cocked.”

Hobbs declined to comment on the sentencing.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com.

After Donald Trump tapped him as his running mate, J.D. Vance crisscrossed the country and gave speech after speech in which he, like Trump, demonized immigrants and promised to mount a mass deportation effort if elected.

The Boeing 737 that he used to travel around the nation is now being used to deport immigrants. Records show that it has made at least 16 flights to Central and South American countries to deport immigrants this year.

An Arizona Mirror analysis of publicly available data and records obtained by the University of Washington through Freedom of Information Act requests confirms that the 22-year-old jet is part of the fleet of planes known as “ICE Air” that swiftly shuttles immigrants out of the United States. ICE Air consists of multiple charter airlines and other private aviation companies around the country who are contracted to move immigrant detainees inside and out of the country.

Even before the plane was emblazoned with the Trump campaign logo in July 2024, it had been used at least four times to transport immigrant detainees during an earlier stint on the ICE Air fleet.

Data analyzed by the Mirror and confirmed by University of Washington Center for Human Rights researcher Phil Neff show that the aircraft flew four ICE Air missions in April and May of 2018.

Those four missions consisted of three removal flights to El Salvador and Guatemala, in which deportees were shipped off to those countries. The fourth was a transfer flight, in which detainees were moved from one ICE facility to another.

During those four missions in 2018, the aircraft carried between 456 to 504 passengers, according to ICE passenger data.

And records from 2020 detail 35 flights from known ICE hubs to Central and South American countries.

For example, on March 6, 2020, the aircraft took off from the Alexandria Airport in Louisiana, where ICE has a staging facility operated by private contractor GEO Group. It then landed at the José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport in Guayaquil, Ecuador, before returning to Alexandria.

Earlier this year, that same airport was where military planes deported migrants.

Data on flights after 2018 is more difficult to confirm. ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security began redacting identifying information of the aircraft used in the deportation process, making it more difficult to see the movements of individual planes, though it is still possible in some cases. Civil rights groups have been fighting for records about the program, while the agency regularly slow-walks records releases.

“Our experience in general with FOIAs — not just with the Department of Homeland Security, but especially with the Department of Homeland Security — is you should expect to have to sue to get information and for us that process involves getting approval from the highest level of the university,” Neff told the Mirror. “So, we have had to be very selective in the case in which we have had to do that.”

Just five months after Trump and Vance won the election, the aircraft flew between multiple airports known for ICE Air activity before heading to an airport in Honduras known for deportation flights, then coming to rest at Mesa Gateway Airport.

It is not clear if Trump or Vance were aware of the aircraft’s history prior to it becoming part of their campaign. A spokesperson for the White House directed the Mirror to the Department of Homeland Security and Vance’s office. Vance and DHS did not respond.

From ferrying travelers to deportees

The aircraft, N917XA, has a long and interesting history.

It started its life in the fleet of the now defunct Air Berlin before transferring to Orenair, another ill-fated airline based in Russia, until it was acquired by Swift Air.

Swift Air was a subcontractor for ICE and has previously conducted flights out of Mesa Gateway Airport, one of ICE’s major airport hubs. Flight history shows the plane has made multiple flights to and from Mesa Gateway to other ICE airport hubs, as well as to Central and South American countries.

A previous inspector general report listed the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway airport as the operational headquarters for ICE Air.

Swift Air rebranded as iAero Airways in 2019, but went bankrupt in 2024. Eastern Air Express acquired much of iAero’s assets, including N917XA, in April 2024. Three months later, it was unveiled as Vance’s campaign jet. Eastern Air Express has also taken over the ICE Air contracts that iAero held.

The company also has connections to the Trump world.

From 1989 to 1992, Trump owned an airline company called “Trump Shuttle,” which he purchased after meeting the Eastern Air Express CEO at a party. But the endeavor, like so many of Trump’s businesses, was financially doomed and failed.

ICE Air activities heat up in Arizona

ICE Air operations in Arizona are beginning to ramp up as well, with Avelo Airlines starting to make deportation flights out of Mesa Gateway this month, amid financial woes and market competition.

Contracts to conduct deportation flights are lucrative for the companies involved. The Project on Government Oversight has reported that CSI Aviation, whose corporate director was a “fake elector” in New Mexico for Trump, was awarded a no-bid contract to the tune of $128 million.

Neff said he wasn’t surprised to learn that the aircraft which had been used for deportations had been utilized by the Trump campaign, although he did say there was an “irony to it.”

During their research, Neff said they found that some of the contractors would often boast about how they could turn aircraft around from passenger style to luxury style on short notice, even finding aircraft that had previously been used for deportations later being used to shuttle professional sports teams or musicians around the country.

Immigrant advocates have been critical of the flights and say they raise a number of human rights and civil rights issues. Neff said those concerns are only being exacerbated by the Trump administration’s push to speed up deportations.

“I think it is really impossible to overstate or understand the true scope of human impacts of a deportation program on this scale,” Neff said.

During their initial research, which covered flights between 2010 and 2020, Neff said they found a “significant portion” of the passengers being deported still had ongoing cases that had not worked their way through the courts. The Trump administration has recently been defending its use of the Alien Enemies Act, the 1798 law that was last used during World War II to intern Japanese Americans, to do rapid deportations.

Once on the planes, immigrants are shackled at their feet and hands for the duration of the flight. In testimony in a class action lawsuit against the United States, where passengers were shackled for 23 hours sitting on the tarmac, some soiled themselves as they were denied access to the bathroom.

Abuse on ICE Air flights have been reported going back to 2016, when some passengers were left bloodied after being beaten and placed in body-bag style restraints. In some cases, deaths and miscarriages have been reported on ICE Air flights.

And transparency about the flights is getting worse, Neff noted.

While the first round of data obtained by researchers contained information such as flight destinations, flight costs and the tail numbers of aircraft, the government redacted that information from future releases.

While public flight history data is available to researchers, those researchers are working overtime to help track these flights.

“It is 8 or 10 hours, 7 days a week. It is a significant amount of time,” immigration activist Tom Cartwright, who has been voluntarily tracking ICE flights since Trump’s first term, told the Mirror.

During that time, Cartwright has noticed that tracking the aircraft has gotten considerably more difficult, as federal agencies have sought to stymie watchdogs from monitoring the program by removing their aircraft from flight-tracking services.

But Cartwright and others have still found other ways to keep a watchful eye on the program.

“The transparency has gotten worse over time and worse under the (second) Trump administration,” Cartwright said, adding that taxpayers deserve to know how their money is being spent. “To send some of these flights with relatively few people on them at a million dollars a flight seems pretty ridiculous, to be honest.”

The coming weeks and months are likely to keep Cartwright busy, as deportation flights have been ramping up. In the last couple of weeks, Cartwright said he has noticed flights have “accelerated quite a bit,” and he said is anticipating May to be a record-breaking month for total flights.

Cartwright said his work is important because it sends a message to those on the flights — and those their deportation left behind in America.

“The people on the planes deserve the dignity of someone giving a damn,” he said. “All these people on these planes, they have mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles. They deserve the dignity of someone understanding that they are being sent away to somewhere that, in some cases, they haven’t seen in years or somewhere that is dangerous or where they won’t be able to support their family.”

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com.

Social media posts have been falsely claiming that a man with connections to Arizona and far-right militias was the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who smashed a car’s window with an axe to apprehend a Guatemalan immigrant. But that man has not been hired by ICE and is currently in Oklahoma spreading conspiracy theories there.

Michael “Lewis Arthur” Meyer is the founder of a group known as Veterans on Patrol which has been involved with a number of militia activities along the southern border often with a QAnon theme.

Users on BlueSky and X, formerly Twitter, have been claiming that Meyer is an ICE agent who was seen breaking the window of a vehicle to arrest a Guatemalan immigrant woman as she was waiting for her attorney.

The Arizona Mirror found that Meyer was posting videos of himself in Oklahoma at the time of the incident in Massachusetts. Meyer has been making videos of himself at the Oklahoma state Capitol telling staff of lawmakers that he intends to “destroy” what he claims is “military weather manipulation” technology.

In an email to the Mirror, Meyer confirmed that he has been living in Oklahoma and said he does not work for ICE.

And ICE “vehemently” denied the claims that Meyer works for the agency in any capacity.

“The officer recorded making an arrest in New Bedford, Mass. is not militia leader Lewis Arthur,” an ICE spokesman said in an emailed statement to the Mirror. “The rumors circulating on social media that ICE Boston employed a militia leader from Arizona to make arrests in New England are not only false, but they are also inflammatory and place the safety of federal officers in jeopardy.”

ICE would not release the name of the officer seen in the video, and would only confirm that “he is a federal law enforcement officer who has worked with ICE to help keep New England communities safe for years.”

Meyer believes in the debunked chemtrail conspiracy theory that has been overtaking many state legislatures. His Telegram, a social media channel favored by the far-right for allowing hate speech and graphic content, if full of conspiratorial creeds and allusions to violence towards the alleged weather manipulation technology in Oklahoma.

Meyer’s group has long engaged in these sorts of antics and “operations.”

In 2018, his group found a homeless encampment and began spreading unfounded claims of sex trafficking and last year claimed that Hurricane Helene was created by the United States military.

Meyer also has a criminal record which includes damaging and stealing water meant for migrants along the border left by humanitarian groups in Arizona, disorderly conduct and trespassing at a cement factory he believed was part of a QAnon-style conspiracy.

Journalist Jessica Pishko also confirmed on X that she had recently seen Meyer in Oklahoma.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com.

U.S. Sens. Rueben Gallego and Mark Kelly sounded the alarm about Republican plans to slash Medicaid health care funding, telling attendees at a town hall in Scottsdale that working class Arizonans will be devastated if voters don’t get engaged and apply pressure now.

Kelly said that the “real stories” of those who will be directly harmed by the cuts that President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans will pursue — a “high probability,” in his estimation — to offset the cost of tax cuts are the most powerful weapons that voters have.

Gallego said that voters have to give Republicans in Congress a reason to break with Trump.

“You have to make them fear the voter more than they fear Trump,” Gallego said. “That’s the only thing they understand.”

The senators spoke with constituents Monday at a health care facility in Scottsdale about concerns that Republicans have Medicaid in their sights.

House Republicans passed a budget resolution last week that directs the Energy and Commerce Committee to cut at least $880 billion from programs under its jurisdiction — of which Medicaid is by far the largest.

Republicans have said that they have no intention of cutting the program, but Project 2025, a far-right blueprint for Trump to dramatically reshape the federal government and eliminate social safety net spending that conservatives have long opposed calls for deep cuts to Medicaid.

The town hall was held at the NOAH Cholla Health Center, a facility that Gallego and Kelly said would likely face closure if cuts to Medicaid happen. Many of the facility’s patients are enrolled in the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, or AHCCCCS, the state’s Medicaid program. Others have health coverage through Medicare, which provides services for older Americans.

“The thing we are talking about today hasn’t happened yet,” Kelly stressed to the audience, but he and Gallego said it was important for people to get engaged now instead of waiting.

An estimated 600,000 people in Arizona alone could lose medical coverage if Medicaid is cut by one-third, the scenario that GOP lawmakers have been currently proposing. As of February, there were 2 million people in Arizona, more than 20% of the people in the state, enrolled in AHCCCS.

If those cuts go into effect, approximately 47,000 rural residents would lose their health coverage, as would 190,000 children. More than 1 in 6 seniors would lose nursing home care.

Approximately 116,800 Native Americans in Arizona are enrolled in the American Indian Health services plan through AHCCCS that would also see a cut under the proposal.

“These are largely working class Arizonans,” Gallego said. “If they could afford their own health insurance, they would do that.”

Both Gallego and Kelly warned that, if the cuts take place, the use of emergency rooms will go up as people will likely put off care for longer, leading to worse outcomes and worse conditions.

Both men said that it will take public pressure to make Republicans not vote on a proposal to cut Medicaid funding and pushed back against those in the audience who voiced concerns about working with Republicans. Polling has been showing that voters are increasingly wanting Democratic politicians to fight Trump policies as opposed to compromise.

“They fight dirty and we’re not willing to get in the mud with them,” Marcos Castillo with Protect Our Care said to the two Senators to cheers from the audience. “Maybe it is time we start getting in the mud with them.”

Others in attendance thought making phone calls, talking to their friends and encouraging Republicans to vote no wasn’t enough.

“We can’t wait. How do we prepare?” Quianna Brown, the mother of a foster child with special medical needs said to Gallego and Kelly. “Would you mind telling your colleagues in Washington they’re burning down this house while there are people still inside?”

Both Gallego and Kelly said they felt for her and her husband’s concerns but reiterated that there needs to be a “grassroots” movement of people putting pressure on lawmakers to vote to not cut Medicaid funding.

“There is nothing happening in this country that says ‘we need to cut Medicare,’” Gallego said. “We need to fight them down, we need to grind them down.”

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com.

Two Arizona lawmakers and President Donald Trump’s nominee for a top Pentagon job spoke at a conspiracy theory convention over the weekend, appearing alongside a man who claims God is telling him to sell cryptocurrency.

Arizona lawmakers Sen. Mark Finchem, R-Prescott, and Rep. Leo Biasiucci, R-Lake Havasu, each spoke on multiple panels at the Quantum Summit 2 event, a convention for a fringe conspiracy theory that claims extraterrestrials are helping shape national and global policy.

During one presentation, Finchem was joined by retired Gen. Anthony Tata, Trump’s nominee for under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness at the Pentagon.

Tata had previously been nominated by Trump during his first presidency, but his past inflammatory remarks referring to President Barack Obama as a “terrorist” and a series of Islamaphobic tweets scuttled his appointment.

Tata has appeared at a Quantum Summit event before, speaking at the inaugural event in 2024; photographs of his participation were posted on the event website and in other promotional materials. The White House did not respond to a request for comment or answer questions if they were aware of Tata’s planned attendance.

In a program for the event posted to BlueSky by anonymous independent extremist researcher Arizona Right Watch, Tata was listed as speaking on a panel with Finchem and two individuals who frequently post videos with QAnon related themes. Both Biasucci and Finchem also held their own presentations separately, with Biasucci speaking about his legislation and Finchem about his work with a former Tennessee cop in which Finchem has pursued spurious fraud claims.

“We are a very small team,” Finchem said, alluding to a nonprofit he created that has spread debunked election fraud claims and whose “head researcher,” a former Tennessee cop named Shawn Taylor, was also present at the event. Finchem suggested that those in attendance should donate to help fund his nonprofit’s work.

Quantum Summit 2 was put on in Cape Canaveral, Florida, by believers in the NESARA/GESARA conspiracy theory. In its most basic form, NESARA/GESARA is a conspiracy theory that revolves around a proposed piece of economic reforms from the 1990s called the National Economic Security and Recovery Act that conspiracy theorists believe was enacted in secret by President Bill Clinton but was covered up by the U.S. Supreme Court via a gag order and suppressed by the 9/11 attacks, which were orchestrated by President George W. Bush.

GESARA refers to a supposed global version of the economic reforms that adherents similarly believe were instituted and then hidden.

In the early 2000s, the conspiracy theory gained popularity in the early internet days as Shaini Goodwin, calling herself the “Dove of Oneness,” made bold predictions about NESARA and world events with dubious claims of “insider knowledge.”

Goodwin is a “graduate” of a New-Age school whose leader often goes on homophobic and antisemitic rants and has teamed up with QAnon. It is also tied to the NXIVM cult that was investigated for sex crimes and much more.

The conspiracy theory has regained traction in recent years, as QAnon adherents have flocked to it due to its many similarities.

NESARA/GESARA has often also been called the “grandfather” of the QAnon conspiracy movement. Goodwin initially promoted it as part of a larger scam that defrauded investors of millions of dollars, with promises of the erasure of all debts and the eventual abolishment of the Internal Revenue Services.

Believers often claim that extraterrestrials have been in communication with them or leaders within the movement and are working to promote the NESARA/GESARA agenda. A promotional video for the Cape Canaveral event that Finchem and Biasiucci spoke at mentions discussions around encouraging the U.S. Space Force to work with the “Galactic Federation.” The idea of a Galactic Federation is often discussed in the context of UFO religions and New Age movements.

The event was the brainchild of a man named Mel Carmine, who believes that Trump, using the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, is ushering in the NESARA/GESARA plan.

Carmine also has violent beliefs as to what the government should be doing to Trump’s perceived enemies.

“Everything you buy, everything you touch, has a tax,” Carmine said in a Feb. 11 interview with Finchem and Biasucci. “People are tired of the thievery…I believe I’m speaking for the American people. I’m pissed off and I know the American people are pissed off. I know I wanna see guillotines and I’m very sure the American people want to see the guillotines and people hanging from ropes. Are we going to see these people perp walked? Are we going to see these people taken care of?”

Neither Arizona lawmaker responded to the statement, and instead spoke about legislation they’re running about taxes in Arizona.

In that same interview, Finchem claimed that Attorney General Kris Mayes had sent a “threatening” letter to lawmakers regarding cryptocurrency. A spokesperson for Mayes said they were unaware of any letter and noted they were working with Republican lawmaker Rep. Jeff Weninger, R-Chandler, on a cryptocurrency bill.

Neither Biasucci nor Finchem responded to repeated requests for comment.

In an opening video for the event, Carmine also claimed that God showed him the logo of a cryptocurrency in the sky that he is now pushing as the currency that will be backed by NESARA/GESARA. That cryptocurrency was featured prominently throughout the event and is pushed heavily on Carmine’s social media.

The event included a litany of speakers with conspiratorial ties and beliefs ranging from UFOs to a man who claimed that he was the original author of The Matrix movie, a claim that was rejected in court.

On Telegram during the conference, Carmine interviewed a person who claimed the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which left 20 children and 6 adults dead, was faked by the government and claimed “anti-gravity tech” and the scam technology known as “med beds” would be forthcoming.

Biasiucci and Finchem are not strangers to conspiracy conventions. In 2021, both spoke at a QAnon convention full of conspiracy theories and antisemitic propaganda.

Finchem has also fundraised with QAnon adherents and had major support from the QAnon community during his failed bid for statewide office in 2022. One of those major supporters, Juan O. Savin, was also a speaker at Quantum Summit 2.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com.

A Republican proposal that would amend the Arizona Constitution to execute prisoners by firing squad instead of lethal injection passed its first hurdle Tuesday.

If the measure ultimately passes both chambers of the legislature, it would go before voters in 2026.

The sponsor, Scottsdale Republican Rep. Alexander Kolodin, repeatedly told the House Committee on Regulatory Oversight his House Concurrent Resolution 2024 was inspired by an independent review of the death penalty that Gov. Katie Hobbs commissioned, and later spiked.

That draft report, written by retired federal Magistrate Judge David Duncan, detailed the numerous problems the state has encountered when trying to procure the drug used for lethal injections. Hobbs hired Duncan in January 2023, shortly after she took office and fired him in November 2024.

The last execution performed by the state was done during the administration of Republican Gov. Doug Ducey.

Multiple judges and advocates, including Duncan, have spoken about the use of firing squads and recommended them as a way to continue executions in a more humane manner. Duncan concluded that, although lethal injection appears to be painless and humane, the reality is that it is “fundamentally unreliable, unworkable and unacceptably prone to errors.”

Duncan also noted that executions are “a violent act in every case.”

And Kolodin also cited retired federal judge Alex Kozinski, who in 2014 wrote in the Wall Street Journal that the firing squad should be reinstated because it was “foolproof,” unlike lethal injection.

“What I hear from these two judges is, if we are going to have these executions, we should drop the pretense, look it in the face,” Jeanne Woodbury, a lobbyist representing the ACLU said to the committee. “No matter the method, the death penalty is cruel and inhumane.”

The committee also heard from Conservatives Concerned About The Death Penalty, a conservative advocacy group that has been urging state lawmakers across the country to rethink capital punishment.

Nicholas Cote, the group’s states strategist, told the committee that Kolodin’s proposal does not address the “real and immediate problem” that is impacting the lethal injection process: The drug used to conduct the state’s executions is shrouded in secrecy, leading to issues with procurement and transparency.

“Putting this in the constitution seems like a real problem,” Cote said, adding that firing squads have been used less than five times in the modern era, mainly in Utah where the method was reinstated in 2015.

Other states are also looking at bringing back the firing squad as a method of execution, including Idaho, where lawmakers are trying to make it the default form of execution. Recently, an inmate in Georgia lost a petition to have his death penalty sentence be imposed by a firing squad as opposed to lethal injection. President Donald Trump has also signaled his support of the method.

Lawmakers also heard from a woman who previously worked as a correctional officer who worried about the emotional impact that death by firing squad would have on correctional officers.

“I have taken a life, and I promise you, it never goes away,” Tucson resident and veteran Courtney Quinones-Machado told the committee. Quinones-Machado said she has “chronic nightmares” from PTSD she received from her time in the military.

“I do not believe we need to traumatize correctional officers,” she said, adding that retention rates for correctional officers in the state are already low and making them participate in firing squad executions could worsen that.

But Republicans seemed unfazed by the concerns.

“What I have to say is this: Katie, if you are not capable of carrying out executions that the people of Arizona want you to carry out because lethal injection is too hard for you, then we are giving you an easy way to do it,” Kolodin said, directly addressing the governor.

Shortly after firing Duncan late last year, Hobbs’ administration moved to quickly execute Aaron Gunches, who murdered a man in 2002. The Arizona Supreme Court last week issued a death warrant, and Gunches is set to be put to death next month.

For committee chairman Rep. Joseph Chaplik, the method of execution comes down to the bottom line, and using a firing squad would be cheaper than procuring lethal injection drugs.

“I think … it is a lot less expensive to do as well, and our job is to cut the budget of the state here,” the Scottsdale Republican said.

Kolodin’s proposal would retain existing language in the constitution that would allow death row inmates who committed a crime prior to Nov. 23, 1992, to choose to die in the gas chamber instead.

The measure passed along party lines and will head to the full House for a vote next. If passed out of both chambers, it will head to the ballot in 2026.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com.

Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a Republican proposal to speed up election results by adopting policies used in Florida that would have eliminated the way hundreds of thousands of Arizonans cast their ballot each year.

Senate Republicans have called the idea “wildly popular,” and the Arizona Republican Party has been pushing a phone and email campaign to encourage Hobbs to sign it into law.

But before House Bill 2703 had even been passed, its fate was known, after Hobbs declared she would veto it because Republicans were unwilling to make concessions. In response, Republicans lobbed the same accusation at the governor.

The bill passed through the House of Representatives on Feb. 12 by a vote of 32-27, and it cleared the Senate a day later by a vote of 16-10. In both chambers, only Republicans voted in favor.

Among the changes HB2703 would have made is ending the practice of voters dropping their early ballots off at a polling place on Election Day, and instead requiring that they either go to the county recorder’s office if they want to drop a ballot off after 7 p.m. on the Friday before Election Day or stand in line at a polling place to show ID before inserting their early ballot in a ballot tabulator.

More than 264,000 Arizonans — nearly 8% of voters who cast a ballot — dropped off their early ballots on Election Day in November, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.

The bill also would have required voters on the Active Early Voter List — who receive a ballot in the mail automatically — to confirm their address each election cycle or be booted off the list, and it sought to mandate that schools serve as polling locations if the county requested. Additionally, it would have expanded in-person early voting through the day before Election Day instead of ending it on the Friday before.

“While I too want faster election results, the solution should not needlessly restrict Arizona citizens’ freedom to vote, or undermine the learning and safety of students in public school districts,” Hobbs wrote in her veto letter. “This legislation effectively ends the Active Early Voting List, something that has nothing to do with faster election results, but disenfranchises voters by adding additional steps for the hundreds of thousands of Arizona voters who prefer to vote by mail.”

Hobbs has repeatedly said that she would veto any legislation that makes it more difficult to vote and outlined the compromises she said she was willing to make in order to make the legislation work. This bill is her first veto of the 2025 legislative session.

“Proposed changes included Friday early ballot drop off restrictions, while protecting the Active Early Voting List and some combination of same day voter registration, cross-county portability of voter registration, and expanded assistance for eligible voters to return their ballots in a timely manner,” Hobbs explained in her letter. “A negotiated bill that included some of these provisions would have shown Arizonans that it is possible to both speed up counting and expand voter access.”

Hobbs said in her letter that Republicans rejected those proposals.

Senate Democratic Leader Priya Sundareshen echoed Hobbs, saying that Republicans rejected their proposals in a video statement on the veto posted on X.

“Republicans attempted to use this moment as an excuse to reduce voter access under the guise of having election results called earlier when, in reality, expanding voter access and achieving faster election results are not mutually exclusive,” Sundareshen said. “I want to give my sincere thanks to Governor Hobbs for vetoing this measure and safeguarding Arizonans fundamental right to vote and to make their voices heard.”

Sundareshen’s Democratic colleagues in the House made similar statements.

Senate President Warren Petersen called the veto a “huge mistake” in a press release shortly after Hobbs announced the veto.

“This was a missed opportunity to increase voter confidence and reduce frustration on election night,” Petersen, a Queen Creek Republican, said in the written statement. “Instead of working with Republicans in good-faith to provide much-needed reforms to our election processes, the Governor impeded all efforts to ensure Arizona can report the vast majority of votes on Election Night. This is not what Arizonans want from their state’s leaders. Republicans and Democrats should be able to work together to solve these issues in a bipartisan manner without resorting to political talking points.”

The statement went on further to say that Republicans are weighing their options on how to continue to pursue the legislation. Last year, Republican lawmakers sent a record number of ballot referrals to voters to avoid Hobbs’ veto pen.

“Status quo for our state’s elections is not an option. Arizona should never again be the laughingstock of the nation for its woefully slow election reporting. Our caucus will be discussing a path forward on this issue in the days and weeks ahead,” Petersen said.

Republicans have a similar proposal, House Concurrent Resolution 2013, which would be sent to voters in 2026 if approved by both chambers.

House Speaker Steve Montenegro directly alluded to sending the measure to voters in a post on X after the veto.

“Governor Hobbs and Democrat legislators continue to block reforms aimed at ensuring timely and transparent election results,” Montenegro said. “If they won’t act, we will—letting Arizona voters have the final say.”

“Katie Hobbs failing to sign even the most commonsense bills being placed on her desk. It’s pathetic,” Republican Governors Association spokesman Kollin Crompton said in a statement. “Arizona lags the nation in the time it takes to count ballots and report results. The insane wait in reporting results is bad for governance, and causes chaos and uncertainty for voters, elected officials, and the country. To voters this is common sense, and clearly Hobbs has none.”

Last November, Arizona was the last state in which the Associated Press called the presidential election results. The state has typically reported its full results about 13 days after the election for the past two decades.

Republicans began making a policy point of the count when Arizona started to become a swing-state and as the margins of victory became even more narrow in many races.

The bill would have curbed the drop off of “late earlies” at polling locations in a voter’s county by 7 p.m. the Friday before Election Day. Currently, voters can drop off their mail-in ballots at any polling place through 7 p.m. on Election Day. More than 264,000 Arizona voters drop off their early ballots on Election Day, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.

***UPDATED: This story has been updated to include additional comments.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com.

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Two of Arizona’s “fake electors” won a victory in a courtroom Monday morning when a judge allowed their attempt to dismiss their criminal charges under an Arizona law designed to prevent political prosecutions to move forward.

Former state lawmaker Anthony Kern and Mark Meadows, who was Donald Trump’s chief of staff in 2020, are trying to block the criminal case against them from proceeding by claiming that the prosecution violates Arizona’s anti-strategic law against public participation law, or anti-SLAPP law.

Two of the 16 people charged in the case, which alleges fraud and other felonies for signing and submitting a document falsely claiming President Donald Trump defeated former President Joe Biden in Arizona’s 2020 presidential election, have pleaded guilty. The other 14 have claimed that signing and certifying of a document assigning Arizona’s 11 electoral votes to Trump, even though he didn’t win the election, was an expression of their First Amendment freedoms to petition the government.

On Monday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sam Myers ruled that the defendants had met their initial burden to convince him that the motion to dismiss should be considered. He emphasized that he had not ruled on whether the case should be dismissed, and that the AG’s Office would now have the ability to explain why the charges are justified.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said her prosecutors would appeal Myers’ ruling.

“We disagree with this ruling, and we will pursue an appeal,” Mayes said in a statement. “It is not the lawful exercise of free speech to file forged slates of electors to deprive Arizona voters of their right to vote.”

In 2022, state lawmakers expanded Arizona’s anti-SLAPP law from civil cases to also include criminal prosecutions. At the time, cases across the country began to take shape going after those who participated in the scheme, which sought to overturn Biden’s election win.

Anti-SLAPP laws are generally seen as a way to prevent civil actions that aim to silence legitimate free speech.

Kern took to X to celebrate the ruling saying it was “Good news for Arizona!”

The case has been anticipated to head to trial by January 2026. Former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and local GOP activist Lorraine Pellegrino pleaded guilty.

Mayes’ case is currently one of only a handful of cases still ongoing, as other cases have been dropped after the election of Trump in November.

The 11 fake electors indicted in the Arizona case are:

• Kelli Ward, former AZGOP chairman
• Arizona Sen. Jake Hoffman, leader of the Arizona Freedom Caucus
• Arizona Sen. Anthony Kern, member of the Arizona Freedom Caucus
• Tyler Bowyer, Turning Point USA CEO
• Michael Ward, husband of Kelli Ward
• Nancy Cottle, a Republican who’s been active in local politics for a decade
• James Lamon, a failed 2022 U.S. Senate candidate
• Robert Montgomery, former chairman of the Cochise County Republican Committee
• Samuel Moorhead, former chairman of Gila County Republican Party
• Lorraine Pellegrino, former president of the Ahwatukee Republican Women
• Gregory Safsten, former executive director of the AZGOP

Former Trump staffers and campaign members also indicted in the case are:

• Rudy Giuliani, an attorney for Trump and one of the main points of contact for the Trump campaign as it sought to overturn the 2020 election and ensure Trump would serve a second term
• Mark Meadows, who was Trump’s chief of staff in 2020
• Christina Bobb, the Republican National Committee’s senior counsel for election integrity and a former attorney for the Trump campaign who was accused in the indictment of making “false claims of widespread election fraud in Arizona and in six other states.”
• John Eastman, a former Trump lawyer who was disbarred in California for his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
• Boris Epshteyn, a former Trump aide who is still one of the former president’s advisors.
• Jenna Ellis, a former attorney for the Trump campaign and a conservative media personality who was censured last year for making false statements about the 2020 election, and who pleaded guilty in October to a felony charge in Georgia for her attempts to overturn the election results.
• Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign aide who was also indicted in the Georgia case.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com.

Conspiracy theorists came out in force Tuesday afternoon to support a Republican bill that aims to ban “geoengineering,” citing the long debunked “chemtrails” conspiracy theory as evidence that nefarious actors are already turning Arizona’s skies into a laboratory and treating its unsuspecting residents as guinea pigs.

“This started when I noticed lines in the sky that did not look normal,” Jodi Brackett told the House Regulatory Oversight Committee.

As Brackett stood at the podium in the legislative hearing room, a man held a collage of photos of contrails taken in Arizona. Brackett said she brought the issue to freshman GOP legislator Lisa Fink’s attention.

Claims that Arizona has seen an increase in contrails left behind by airliners was a major theme among many of the speakers who came to support the bill.

“Whether you know it or not, your body is part of their laboratory,” Crystal Hansen told the committee claiming that the vapor trails left behind by airliners are “not condensation,” citing a website that has posted altered videos and photos as “evidence” of the conspiracy.

The geography of the Phoenix metropolitan area, where many of those who spoke in favor of Fink’s House Bill 2056 said they reside, plays a role in those long-hanging contrails that many see as “proof” of a larger conspiracy. The region sits basically in a bowl surrounded by mountains, with an inversion above that bowl that traps the air below it. That results in high ozone and other pollutant levels — as well as contrails that linger in the air longer than they do in most other places.

“We, the people, are extremely concerned with all the trails in our skies,” Melissa Price said to the committee, adding that she wants lawmakers to send the bill to the ballot for voters to decide on.

But Price did concede that “even with all the weather modification” she claimed was happening, the state is “not seeing any rain” and remains facing the effects of a historic drought.

Fink’s bill would ban geoengineering in Arizona. In simple terms, geoengineering is the practice of intentionally attempting to modify the atmosphere. In recent years, it has been explored as a possible way to combat the increasingly extreme effects of climate change.

The field is largely theoretical with only small projects taking place, some of which have faced backlash from local communities. Geoengineering has recently become the focus of groups that have previously pushed unfounded conspiracy theories about vaccines.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration currently monitors the planet’s atmosphere for signs of geoengineering programs by other nations or by small venture capitalist backed groups.

The emerging field has caused fierce debate among scientists, some of whom see it as a way to combat mankind’s impact on the planet, while others see it as another way to create climate chaos.

Many refer to the practice as climate intervention, and some scientists have been studying it as a means of combating climate change. These efforts have included studying things like solar radiation modification, a process that aims to decrease surface temperatures by reflecting sunlight away from the planet.

Last year, Tennessee lawmakers passed a law that banned geoengineering, with lawmakers during debate alluding to the debunked “chemtrails” conspiracy theory. Online conspiracy theorists have long pointed to the condensation left behind by airliners as being part of a larger conspiracy to modify the weather or poison the populace, though no evidence of such programs exist and the contrails planes sometimes leave behind are little more than water vapor that has frozen into ice crystals.

Other speakers also saw the bill as a way to combat other bogus geoengineering conspiracy theories that have long had a place in the fringes of conspiracy culture.

Leslie Forster told the committee that the bill would help protect Arizonans from the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program, also known as HAARP, which studies the planet’s upper atmosphere. The research project has been accused of causing a litany of weather-related events, despite its inability to impact the weather.

Speakers also confused sulfur iodide with sodium iodide, a chemical commonly used in cloud seeding. Cloud seeding eventually became a focus of the committee, as Fareed Bailey, a lobbyist representing the Salt River Project, said the utility was concerned about the bill’s ban on it.

Fink’s HB2056 bill would ban a litany of geoengineering practices, including cloud seeding, deploying aerosol particles in the stratosphere, releasing chaff into the atmosphere, solar radiation modification or any other attempts to modify the weather. Her legislation is similar to several others filed in other states this year.

Bailey said SRP has been studying cloud seeding as a possible way to help with the state’s water woes, but all research has been theoretical in computer models. SRP has not flown any aircraft to conduct cloud seeding tests, Bailey said.

“We do not want to close the door to this promising technology,” he said, adding that silver iodide, the main chemical used in cloud seeding, has been found to be largely non-toxic. Bailey’s claim was met with boos and jeers from many in the audience.

The bill initially was written to bar any government agency, research project, university, “public or private organization” or “military force” from engaging in geoengineering, with violators facing a $500,000 fine and a felony, with up to three years of prison; the the director of the Department of Water Resources would have been tasked with investigating any claim of geoengineering.

But the GOP-led committee amended the proposal to remove those penalties and the responsibility of the head of the water agency, instead allow citizens to bring any geoengineering claims to court, where they’d be awarded injunctive relief if they proved their case. The amendment also adds a ban on universities funding any research into solar radiation modification.

One attendee felt the amendment lacked “teeth” and suggested that the punishment for geoengineering be treason — which is punishable by death — eliciting cheers from the attendees.

Others asked members of the committee to “get on Instagram” to see the evidence of geoengineering that is allegedly happening out of Sky Harbor International Airport. Many cited increased issues with asthma as proof of the geoengineering plot.

With the increase in population and heat, the Phoenix metro area has seen a marked increase in the number of high pollution days, which leads to more adverse reactions to those with asthma and other breathing complications.

Some in attendance also appeared to believe in other conspiracy theories, sporting t-shirts supporting election reforms based on election fraud falsities and sharing with the committee their belief that a large number of children are being sex trafficked, a core component of the QAnon conspiracy theory. Local election conspiracy theorist Gail Golec also came out to support the bill Tuesday afternoon.

The formal GOP platform makes no mention of climate change, greenhouse gases, the environment, pollution, clean air or clean water. It makes a brief mention of conservation in a section on restoring “American Beauty.” And although there is broad scientific consensus that human activity is causing climate change, and that its effects are becoming more extreme, Arizona Republicans largely reject that it is happening at all.

Last year, state Senate Republicans backed a bill to bar state government and universities from spending money to reduce greenhouse gases or research climate change, deeming them both “Marxist” ideas that are “anti-God.”

Democratic committee members voiced concern that they did not hear from any experts, such as physicians or scientists. When the minority lawmakers said they didn’t see evidence of what the bill’s proponents were saying, many in attendance booed, leading Republican Committee Chair Joseph Chaplik to threaten bringing in security if outbursts continued.

Rep. Rachel Keshel, R-Tucson, who is married to conspiracy theorist Seth Keshel, said she has seen “adequate research” that the alleged chemicals involved in the fictional geoengineering leads to increased Azlhiemers.

And Chaplik said his inability to see individual airplanes flying more than 20,000 feet above Phoenix that are leaving contrails in the sky was concerning enough to support changing Arizona law to ban geoengineering.

“You’re seeing these in the sky at nighttime or early morning, you’re really not seeing the planes fully flying around the air,” he said, adding that he has been talking with Fink about the issue for “a few months.”

The bill passed out of the committee along party lines, with Republicans voting in favor and Democrats opposing. The bill heads next to the full House of Representatives for consideration.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com.

All year H5N1 bird flu has been spreading across the world, recently making its way to birds in Arizona, but what does that mean for bird lovers and backyard aviaries?

Arizona is one of approximately 10 states that have had confirmed cases of avian flu that are being monitored by federal, state and local health officials. There is no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the virus in Arizona or anywhere else and risk to the public is considered low.

However, the virus is often fatal to birds and some other animals. It was recently reported that five animals at the World Wildlife Zoo and Aquarium in Litchfield Park died after being exposed to the virus.

Other cases reported in Arizona include geese at a park in Scottsdale and two workers at a poultry farm in Pinal County who contracted the virus from birds at the farm but fully recovered. Other cases have been reported at a wastewater plant in Flagstaff and a backyard poultry flock in Maricopa County.

Health officials have been advising people to avoid raw milk where the virus has been found. Raw milk has become a fad among conservatives with right-wing influencers, including Phoenix-based Turning Point USA, boosting debunked misconceptions around the health benefits of raw milk.

Domestic and wild animals are at risk of infection from the virus with backyard flocks being especially susceptible.

Those who feed wild birds in their backyards have been advised in some areas like California to stop feeding the birds all together as a preventative measure to keep them from congregating in large groups that could contribute to further spread of the virus. Animal groups are advising that if you decide to keep feeding wild birds in your backyard to regularly clean the feeders and water.

The National Audubon Society, a group that advocates for the protection of birds, also recommends planting native plants that attract birds and local insects but don’t lead to them congregating in the same way feeders do.

Cats, dogs and dairy cattle can all contract the virus,and humans can become infected after being exposed to an infected animal.

Those with backyard flocks or pet birds should look out for symptoms such as low energy or appetite, purple discoloration or swelling of various body parts, reduced egg production or misshapen eggs, coughing, sneezing and lack of coordination.

People with cats and dogs should look for fever, lethargy, low appetite, reddened or inflamed eyes, discharge from the eyes and nose, difficulty breathing, seizures or sudden blindness. Veterinarians recommend avoiding giving your pet raw milk and making sure they have not eaten a dead bird or any other animal.

In humans, the virus can cause mild to severe upper respiratory symptoms, multi-organ failure and death.

The current strain, called Eurasian H5N1, has proved to be deadly for wild birds, killing bald eagles, great horned owls, Canadian geese, snow geese and other wild birds. The virus has been detected in over 80 wild birds in Arizona, according to the Center for Disease Control.

You can report sick wild birds by calling the Arizona Game and Fish Department at 623-236-7201 and if you need to report a sick domestic bird contact the Arizona Department of Agriculture at 602-542-4293.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com.

Bomb threats sent to Maricopa and Pima counties on Election Day contained identical language, according to copies of the threats obtained through public records requests.

Arizona was one of several states where polling places or election facilities were subject to bomb threats on Election Day. Ten of the state’s 15 counties received bomb threats that day, according to Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes.

Officials deemed the threats “non-credible” and during Election Day they stressed that no voters were in immediate danger or were kept from voting because of the threats. However, some locations had to evacuate, including in Maricopa County when a threat was aimed at the Superior Court building, where Recorder Stephen Richer’s Office is located.

On the night of the election, Richer was seen evacuating his office in response to one of the threats. Election offices in Cochise, La Paz, and Maricopa counties also evacuated, however, many others did not.

Cochise, Coconino, Gila, La Paz, Maricopa, Navajo, Pima, Pinal, Yavapai and Yuma counties all received Election Day bomb threats.

A threat emailed to Maricopa County, and obtained by the Mirror via a public records request, shares identical language to one obtained by VoteBeat in Pima County also through a public records request.

The email, with the subject line “My manifesto,” comes from an email account with the name “maga_alex” which is similar to the one received by Pima County with the same subject and a sender named “maga_sam.” Both emails have the same wording except for a change in the address where they claimed a bomb had been planted.

“It will not cause much damage to the building but there will be many wounded people when it explodes,” maga_alex said in the email to Maricopa. “I plan on remotely detonating the device as soon as there is a large police presence.”

Maricopa County Spokesman Fields Moseley told the Mirror in a written statement that the county’s training and technology prevented the possibility of the email harming the county’s tech.

“Maricopa County employs multiple intrusion prevention and detection security controls across all technology layers including email. Along with technology controls, Maricopa County performs security awareness training and simulated phishing testing,”Moseley said in the statement. “It was because of this training that the email was caught, reported and addressed rapidly and efficiently. While the email content is a threat, the email itself wouldn’t have harmed technology resources.”

Moseley said that the county could not comment further due to the on-going law enforcement investigation.

The FBI previously said on Nov. 5 that the emails “appear to originate from Russian email domains” and none of the threats were deemed credible. When asked for an update or if the FBI had engaged with the two email providers for the threats made public through records requests, the FBI deferred to their Nov. 5 statement.

The two email domains in the public records releases belong to companies called Mailum and CyberFear. Neither company responded to a request for comment.

At first glance, the websites appear to be different email services, however, when signing up for CyberFear, users are directed to Mailum, where they can choose between a @CyberFear.com email or a @Mailum.com email address.

Additionally, when viewing the source code on Mailum’s website, code for an analytics tool with the username “CyberFear” is visible.

Both companies bill themselves as privacy email options akin to ProtonMail or Tutanota that offer end-to-end encryption and “spy-proof” email services. The emails operate as a paid subscription model and in a post to the BlackHatWorld Forum in 2020, a now defunct account appearing to belong to CyberFear claimed that the service could send mass emails to up to 50 recipients.

Other states seemingly had it worse than the Grand Canyon State, like Georgia, which reported over 60 bomb threats on Election Day. An analysis of the threats by NBC News found that many targeted largely Democratic areas.

The Arizona Secretary of State’s Office said that it is continuing to work with law enforcement to investigate the threats. Despite the threats, elections across the country ran relatively smoothly.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and X.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes told reporters Tuesday that she intends to push back against potential abortion and immigration policy proposals by the administration of President-elect Donald Trump.

As she spoke to reporters in the AG’s Office Tuesday, Mayes had a printed out copy of the 900-page Project 2025 next to her in two separate three ring binders.

Project 2025 is a right-wing blueprint created by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, to reshape the United States federal government and consolidate executive power under a Trump presidency. The list of policy plans was created in large part by former Trump aides and allies.

The Heritage Foundation created the document in partnership with more than 100 other conservative groups, many with extreme views on abortion, taxes, immigration and federal agencies. Proposals in Project 2025 include completely banning abortion nationwide, bringing the U.S. Department of Justice under the direct control of the president, increased immigration enforcement and sweeping cuts to federal agencies.

While Trump has distanced himself from the proposal, the project has members of Trump’s inner circle, including former top Trump aide John McEntee, who is said to be one of the main leaders behind the proposal.

Other senior Trump administration officials have also been involved in the proposal.

Mayes called many of the proposed executive orders and proposed legislation outlined in Project 2025 unconstitutional, specifically citing the proposal’s desire to reinstate the Comstock Act of 1873 which would prohibit the mailing of certain reproductive health care medications and in effect would create a nationwide abortion ban.

“Those kinds of provisions are unacceptable to the people of this country,” Mayes said, adding that she believes it would violate both the United States Constitution and the Arizona Constitution’s provisions on privacy.

“Bottom line is this: It is my job to uphold both the Arizona and Federal constitution,” Mayes said.

Arizona voters recently enshrined abortion rights into the state’s constitution with the passage of Proposition 139. However, a federal ban enacted either by executive order or by Congress would likely overrule any state right to abortion. Trump has said he wants to leave the issue to the states, but many in his orbit have floated national abortion bans, including his vice president. Project 2025 details at great length policies that would end abortion access and curtail the availability of things like contraception.

The AG said she is anticipating defending Prop. 139 in court in the coming months as legal challenges by anti-abortion advocates to the constitutionality of the provision make their way through the courts.

Mayes also signaled her intention to push back against immigration policies that have been floated by the incoming Trump administration, saying that ending DACA — a program that grants protections to undocumented people who were brought to America by their parents when they were children — is a “line in the sand” for her office.

Trump has campaigned on a promise to do mass deportations of immigrants in the country, a plan that economists have said could cause issues for the national economy. Mayes said that seeing the migrant detention camps during Trump’s first administration led to her switching parties from Republican to Democrat.

She also called Trump’s proposed migrant camps during his promised mass deportation “concentration camps.”

“The problem with that is it leads to abuses,” Mayes said of mass deportation plans, adding that she would rather see the administration focus on violent cartel members who are inside the country.

The AG also voiced her concerns over how the process may roll out, adding that she fears the “due process” of individuals caught up in the mass deportations will be ignored in order to speed up the process saying that U.S. citizens may get caught up in the “dragnet.”

Mayes also reiterated that a Trump presidency does not stop her case against Trump 2020 fake electors.

“I have absolutely no intention of dropping the fake electors case,” she said.

Earlier this year a grand jury indicted 18 people in a fake elector scheme that aimed to install Donald Trump as president after he lost the 2020 election. Those indicted included two Arizona state senators and the former head of the Arizona Republican Party. One person in the case, GOP activist Lorraine Pellegrino, has already taken a plea deal.

“They are not affected one bit by Donald Trump’s election to the presidency,” Mayes said of the case. “It doesn’t make it easier, that’s for sure.”

Mayes added that the grand jury had initially intended to indict Trump as well as “30 members” of the Arizona legislature until they were told not to by the AG’s Office.

Republicans won nationally and locally, with efforts by Arizona and national Democrats to flip the legislature blue ultimately failed. Mayes, who has been a target of Republicans at the Arizona Legislature, said she is looking for opportunities where her office and Republicans can work together — including Trump.

One opportunity Mayes said she saw was addressing how opioid settlement money is being used in the state. The issue came into focus during this year’s budget, when money from settlements with opioid manufacturers over their role in the opioid crisis was diverted to Arizona’s prisons, something Mayes vehemently opposed.

She sued, but the court rejected her argument, allowing the money to be used for addressing issues within Arizona’s prisons. But Mayes said she is confident that the money is being used inappropriately and aims to address that in the coming legislative session.

She also voiced her desire for the incoming Trump administration to send more Drug Enforcement Agency officials to the state and said she would like to see Trump revive and enact a border bill that he urged Republicans to kill.

Overall, Mayes said her office is ready to push back against policies outlined in Project 2025, saying that her office has been analyzing the proposal for “months” and preparing departments in her office for impending legal battles related to it. She added that she has also been in communication with Democratic AGs in other states, but did not elaborate on which states.

As for the repudiation up and down the ballot of Democratic candidates, Mayes said a reckoning is in order.

“We have to be very honest with ourselves,” Mayes said. “Democrats didn’t turn out, and we need to assess why that is.”

Asked if she thought Vice President Kamala Harris was not going to win, given her preparation for a Trump presidency, Mayes said it was about being prepared.

“Hoping for the best but planning for the worst,” Mayes said.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and X.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes revealed Tuesday that two-thirds of Arizona’s counties — twice as many as was previously known — received bomb threats on Election Day.

The FBI said on Election Day that “several states” received bomb threats against particular polling locations and that the threats originate from Russian email domains. None of the threats have been deemed credible.

During a roundtable discussion with journalists, Mayes elaborated on those threats when asked by the Arizona Mirror, adding that 10 of Arizona’s 15 counties had received threats. She said that a county supervisor in La Paz County called her personally after they received one.

The counties that received threats were Cochise, Coconino, Gila, La Paz, Maricopa, Navajo, Pima, Pinal, Yavapai and Yuma.

“It is a really troubling sign of where we are as a country,” Mayes said. “It has a very disruptive effect.”

Mayes said that the non-credible threats did not impact the election as a whole, but many places across the country and in Arizona had to undergo evacuations due to the threats. Mayes said that officials in La Paz County had to evacuate on Election Night as ballots were starting to arrive to be tabulated.

“We were dealing with that on a real-time basis with local law enforcement,” she said, adding that Arizona’s Counter Terrorism Information Center was helping coordinate efforts.

Other states seemingly had it worse, like Georgia, which reported over 60 bomb threats. An analysis of the threats by NBC News found that many targeted largely Democratic areas.

The Arizona Secretary of State’s Office said it “does not have any additional info to add.”

On the night of the election, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer was seen evacuating his office due to one of the threats. Despite the threats, elections across the country ran relatively smoothly.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and X.

A man already indicted for shooting at a local Democratic National Committee Office is facing new charges related to allegations that he posted anti-Democratic signs outfitted with razor blades and bags of white powder attached to them.

Jeffrey Michael Kelly, 60, was arrested for his alleged involvement in four separate incidents of political violence. Police have tied him to a series of shootings at a Democratic National Committee office in Tempe, as well as placing the razor-blade and powder-laden anti-Democratic signs in nearby Ahwatukee.

Prosecutors said they believe he was allegedly planning a “mass casualty” event in Arizona. A search of his home revealed 120 guns, 250,000 rounds of ammunition, body armor and a grenade launcher, they said in court documents filed last month.

Kelly is accused of shooting at the Democratic office on three different occasions between Sept. 16 and Oct. 6. He initially used a C02 powered gun before escalating to .22 caliber firearms, according to Tempe Police.

Over the course of the three shootings, he fired more than 20 times, causing damage to the building late at night, according to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. Police were tipped off that Kelly might have been involved after they released photos of his vehicle, which had been spotted near thefts of Democratic yard signs in 2022.

After they began watching Kelly, they saw him placing signs that read “Dems kill Jews,” “Dems Lie” and “Never Harris,” referring to Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. The signs had razor blades and bags of white powder attached to them with the message “biohazard” and “F*** you! Play stupid games win stupid prizes! Guess the poison.”

Kelly was indicted on terrorism charges last month for the incidents involving the DNC office, but had not yet faced an indictment for the signs police saw him put up. The newly obtained grand jury indictment shows that he has since been indicted for four counts of “unlawful use of a biological substance or radiological agent,” a class 2 felony.

The indictment notes that Kelly placed “a simulated infectious biological substance” at multiple locations with the “intent to terrify, intimidate, threaten or harass.” The four counts are for each of the signs Kelly placed along the roadway in Ahwatukee.

Kelly is being represented by an attorney who uses a gun range that Kelly also frequents and has represented militia members before. During Kelly’s initial appearance, attorney Jason Squires argued that Kelly is a “sportsman” who owns a “multitude of firearms,” adding that they were all legally obtained.

The Arizona Mirror found a LinkedIn profile that appears to belong to Kelly in which he said he worked for Honeywell. His attorney said he held top secret clearances for his job until 2020.

Kelly has also posted unfounded conspiracy theories on a Facebook page found by the Mirror. As far back as 2014, Kelly was amplifying the debunked and racist “birtherism” claims about former President Barack Obama.

On Jan. 6, 2021, while rioters were storming the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the election for former President Donald Trump, Kelly changed his Facebook banner to a “Stop The Steal” logo, the movement that pushed unfounded claims around the 2020 election results.

He also posted frequent pro-gun memes, including an Islamaphobic one, and his profile picture is an edit of the infamous photo of Kathy Griffin with the severed head of Donald Trump but replaced with Biden and captioned “this is still funny right?”

The Department of Homeland Security has warned that election deniers connected to the far-right may attempt to bomb drop boxes or commit other acts of violence in the coming weeks.

A probable cause statement against Kelly disclosed that he is also under two separate federal investigations. Among the evidence police uncovered are Google searches Kelly allegedly performed looking up the address of the DNC office. The police also noted that Kelly “has finances and resources to conduct further acts of terrorism” and frequently travels across state lines.

The grand jury indictment also notes that Kelly “has a large sum of money and access to lots of guns and ammo” as the rationale behind a $500,000 cash bond. Kelly also has a $500,000 cash bond related to the terrorism charges making his total cash bond $1 million.

Kelly’s attorney claimed he did not own the vehicle at the center of the case, however, it was found on Kelly’s property, where it was covered in blankets. Police said it had been recently cleaned. Police also found two expired out-of-state license plates that were seen on the vehicle fleeing the scene.

Kelly also reportedly researched silencers and additional modifications for his weapons.

During their investigation, Tempe police found spent ammunition in Kelly’s trash that matched the caliber of rounds fired at the DNC office.

Kelly is set to appear in court on Nov. 5.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and X.

In the final press conference by Maricopa County before Election Day, officials stressed the importance of trusted sources and patience as the state and county once again take center stage in a divisive election.

“People should remember that there will still be long lines on Election Day,” Assistant County Manager Zach Shira told a room of national and international press Monday. “This is normal for a presidential election.”

The county is anticipating long lines due in part to the two-page ballot all voters will have to cast this election, the first time ballots have spilled onto a second sheet of paper since 2006. The average ballot contains 79 races and there are more than 13,000 different ballot styles across the county due to the different local races, bond issues and propositions.

Long lines and delays in making election results available have become fodder for election conspiracy theorists, who have clung onto those issues as a way to try to delegitimize the election outcome.

As voter turnout has increased in Arizona, so has a national focus on Maricopa County, which has been at the forefront of election fraud conspiracy theories, and has had a number of high profile candidates who have made national and international headlines for promoting false claims.

Arizona’s new status as a swing state has also led to increased attention from political campaigns and news media across the country. Maricopa County spokesman Fields Moseley noted Monday that the county had issued more than 650 press credentials.

Monday’s press conference focused on the numbers involved in making Maricopa’s election work, as well as preliminary information on issues that have already been seized upon by conspiracy theorists and nation-state disinformation actors.

“We will not be playing Whac-a-Mole,” Schira said of how the county plans to address misinformation. He said the county intends to focus solely on issues that would impact a voter’s ability to vote and not every false claim that arises in the coming days.

Over the weekend, a video purporting to be a whistleblower within the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office was flagged as Russian propaganda; the person in the video made a number of false claims before encouraging people to protest. Other disinformation has already begun spreading about a voter database glitch that impacts approximately 218,000 voters.

Maricopa County Sheriff Russ Skinner said his office is on “high alert” for threats against election officials and election workers in the coming days, reiterating his “zero tolerance” for criminal activity that he spoke to last week.

County officials also took the time to address those who have sown doubt directly.

“We are asking them to accept these results and move on and congratulate the winner,” Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates said, alluding to candidates like Republicans Kari Lake and Abe Hamadeh, who have yet to concede their 2022 losses and have continued to use the courts to overturn the will of the voters.

Election results will start to roll in Tuesday night, but many races may not be able to be called until Wednesday, when late-arriving early ballots begin to be counted, the county stressed. While a vast majority of votes have already been counted, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer stressed the volume of work that has been taken on.

With the two-page ballot, work has doubled, leading to shifts that go through the night and into the next morning. Richer said he and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes worked one of those shifts just recently, calling it “democracy after dark.”

But doubling the work needed to tally votes isn’t the only issue impacting election workers.

On the Oct. 7 deadline for voters to register in the state, Maricopa County received over 90,000 registrants — some registration forms were delivered in “trash bags,” Richer said. His office has been undertaking verifying those registrations, some of which were tied to a group run by a Mesa city councilman that is now under investigation in Pennsylvania.

Prosecutors in Pennsylvania are investigating irregular voter registration signatures tied to Field Media Corps run by Mesa Vice Mayor Francisco Heredia. His group has also been the subject of complaints in Arizona in 2023 and the Arizona Attorney General’s Office confirmed to the Arizona Republic that two complaints from Mohave and Navajo Counties have been sent to Maricopa County prosecutors.

Richer said his office has “admonished” the group in the past, and that his office has spoken with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office about the group.

He stressed that his office is undergoing robust signature verification on early ballots, noting that they have hired additional people to assist, to ensure the integrity of the election.

Almost 1.2 million voters have already had their ballots processed and sent to tabulation, according to Richer. When election results are released at 8 p.m. on election night, he said approximately 55% of all the expected votes will have been tabulated. But those initial results will change as Election Day ballot tallies from polling sites are downloaded from tabulators and early ballots that either arrived Monday or Tuesday or were dropped off at polling sites are processed, something that takes several days to complete.

“Despite what has been alleged in previous elections, there will not be a point where we stop tabulating,” Schira said. In 2020, election fraud conspiracy theorists claimed that Maricopa and other jurisdictions stopped counting over the night and “injected” votes for Democratic candidates in the meantime. There is no evidence of this occurring.

In light of these claims and misinformation, the county has created a new blog that will be regularly updated with information on vote counts as well as explaining how the process works. County officials stressed that voters and the media check trusted sources for information regarding the election including sites like the county’s “Just the Facts” page.

“We are asking for people’s patience,” Gates said. “We will always pick accuracy over speed.”

The county said they anticipate holding daily press conferences in the coming days as ballots are tabulated and results come in.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and X.

A man accused of shooting at a local Democratic National Committee Office and putting up anti-Democratic signs with razor blades and bags of white powder attached to them has been indicted by a grand jury on terrorism charges.

Jeffrey Michael Kelly, 60, was arrested for his alleged involvement in four separate incidents of political violence. Police have tied him to a series of shootings at a Democratic National Committee office in Tempe, as well as placing the razor-blade and powder-laden anti-Democratic signs in nearby Ahwatukee.

Prosecutors said they believed he was allegedly planning a “mass casualty” event in Arizona. A search of his home revealed 120 guns, 250,000 rounds of ammunition, body armor and a grenade launcher, according to prosecutors.

Kelly is accused of shooting at the Democratic offices on three different occasions between Sept. 16 and Oct. 6. He initially used a C02 powered gun before escalating to .22 caliber firearms, according to Tempe Police.

Over the course of the three shootings he fired more than 20 times, causing damage to the building late at night, according to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. Police were tipped off that Kelly might have been involved after they released photos of his vehicle, which had been spotted stealing Democratic yard signs in 2022.

On Monday, a grand jury indicted Kelly on one count of terrorism, three counts of discharge of a firearm at a structure, three counts of unlawful discharge of a firearm and one count of criminal damage, all felonies. He is currently being held on two $500,000 cash-only bonds.

The indictment does not appear to include charges related to the signs police saw Kelly place in Ahwatukee near his home.

Last week, law enforcement officers surveilling Kelly saw him placing signs that read “Dems kill Jews,” “Dems Lie” and “Never Harris,” referring to Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. The signs had razor blades and bags of white powder attached to them with the message “biohazard” and “F*** you! Play stupid games win stupid prizes! Guess the poison.”

Kelly has only been charged with crimes related to the DNC office shootings, but could face additional charges stemming from the signs and powder.

Kelly is being represented by an attorney who uses a gun range that Kelly also frequents and has represented militia members before. During an initial appearance last week, his attorney argued that Kelly is a “sportsman” who owns a “multitude of firearms,” adding that they were all legally obtained.

The Arizona Mirror found a Linkedin profile that appears to belong to Kelly in which he said he worked for Honeywell. His attorney said he held top secret clearances for his job until 2020.

Kelly has also posted unfounded conspiracy theories on a Facebook page found by the Mirror. As far back as 2014, Kelly was amplifying the debunked and racist “birtherism” claims about former President Barack Obama.

On Jan. 6, 2021, while rioters were storming the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the election for former President Donald Trump, Kelly changed his Facebook banner to a “Stop The Steal” logo, the movement that pushed unfounded claims around the 2020 election results.

He also posted frequent pro-gun memes, including an Islamaphobic one, and his profile picture is an edit of the infamous photo of Kathy Griffin with the severed head of Donald Trump but replaced with Biden and captioned “this is still funny right?”

The Department of Homeland Security has warned that election deniers connected to the far-right may attempt to bomb drop boxes or commit other acts of violence in the coming weeks.

A probable cause statement against Kelly disclosed that he is also under two separate federal investigations. Among the evidence police uncovered are Google searches Kelly allegedly performed looking up the address of the DNC office. The police also noted that Kelly “has finances and resources to conduct further acts of terrorism” and frequently travels across state lines.

The car that Kelly’s attorney claimed he did not own was found on Kelly’s property, where it was covered in blankets. Police said it had been recently cleaned. Police also found two expired out-of-state license plates that were seen on the vehicle fleeing the scene.

Kelly also reportedly researched silencers and additional modifications for his weapons.

During their investigation, Tempe police found spent ammunition in Kelly’s trash that matched the caliber of rounds fired at the DNC office.

Kelly is set to appear before the court this week.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and X.

As concerns grow nationwide about potential political violence at the polls, Maricopa County, the nation’s fourth most populous county, is trying to alleviate security concerns one week out from Election Day.

As of Oct. 28, the county had received more than one million early ballots with the bulk of them — over 940,000 — coming to the county via ballot drop boxes or the United States Postal Service. The remaining 75,000 have come from voters who used early polling locations.

Maricopa County Director of Elections Scott Jarret said, during a Tuesday press conference in Phoenix, that the county is surpassing voter turnout for the 2016 and 2020 elections. On Oct. 28 alone, more than 17,000 voters cast their early ballots, according to Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates.

As voter turnout has increased, so has a national focus on Maricopa County, which has been at the forefront of election fraud conspiracy theories, and has had a number of high profile candidates who have made national and international headlines for promoting these theories. Arizona has morphed into a swing state in recent years, leading to increased attention from political campaigns and news media across the country.

That increased attention has come with increased security risks. Multiple people over the past few years have been arrested for making violent threats aimed at Maricopa County election workers and officials who oversee elections.

Maricopa County Sheriff Russ Skinner told the room of reporters Tuesday that he, along with federal and local law enforcement officers, have been partaking in “immense planning” for over a year to ensure the safety of voters and election workers alike.

“We don’t have any tolerance for criminal activity,” Skinner said, adding that law enforcement will not tolerate threats of violence or those that seek to intimidate voters.

Those threats so far are fewer than during past elections, according to Skinner, but his agency is still taking precautions to ensure that threats are being monitored and reported to the appropriate agencies.

Jarret took the time to tell reporters Tuesday that Maricopa County’s two outdoor drop boxes are equipped with fire suppression equipment and are monitored 24/7.

On Oct. 24 a man in Phoenix was arrested after he reportedly set fire to a mailbox, destroying some ballots that were inside. The man, who has a history of arrests and being unhoused, told police he was not committing the act to target ballots, but that he wanted to be arrested.

However, drop boxes in Washington and Oregon were set ablaze by an “incendiary device” that destroyed a large number of ballots, raising concerns about future attacks at other drop boxes around the country.

Drop boxes became a point of contention prior to the 2022 midterm election, when conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza promoted his film “2000 Mules,” which claimed that “ballot mules” were dropping off fraudulent ballots at drop boxes across the country. The film has been widely discredited and there has been no evidence to substantiate such claims.

Even so, ballot drop boxes have become a point of focus for unsubstantiated claims of fraud from Republicans. The film’s makers have refused to provide evidence backing up their claims, and former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, has said both the FBI and the IRS should investigate nonprofit group True the Vote, which helped make the film, for alleged fraud related to the claims.

“Prior to 2020, we didn’t have these issues,” Skinner said of the need for additional security around polling places as well as the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center, commonly referred to as MCTEC.

MCTEC became the focus of conspiracy-driven protests after President Joe Biden’s win over former President Donald Trump. Crowds of protesters, some armed, gathered outside the facility after the 2020 election, and some even attempted to get inside.

Now, MCTEC’s parking lot where protesters previously gathered is fenced off and Skinner said that those who may come to protest are welcome to do so in “free speech zones” that do not interfere with MCTEC operations.

Skinner would not elaborate on specifics of the broad security planned for Election Day or at MCTEC saying he did not want to divulge how MCSO plans to be operating, however, during the primary earlier this year the Arizona Mirror observed an MCSO drone, snipers and bomb sniffing dogs patrolling the building.

Those increased demonstrations of force are something Skinner said his office is trying to be mindful of so as not to scare off those who may show up to protest.

“We don’t want to intimidate anybody,” Skinner said. “This is a double edged sword for us.”

The Phoenix Police Department as well as the Arizona Department of Public Safety will be assisting MCSO on Election Day, Skinner said. Up to 200 MCSO employees will be working per day to ensure safety on and after Election Day, Skinner said.

“I think it is sad that this is where we are at that we have to have a press conference based on security,” Gates said. “I think it is a sad commentary of what has happened in this country the past four years.”

The press conference also marked the last day for voters to mail-in their early ballot. After Tuesday, voters can drop off their early ballot at a polling location or drop box, or they can choose to vote early in person or on Election Day.

Those looking to find locations to drop off a ballot or vote in-person can do so at the county’s website.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and X.

Apache County Attorney Michael B. Whiting is still unaccounted for days after agents with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office served a search warrant at his office in relation to an investigation into alleged misuse of public monies and threatening and intimidating a political opponent.

And Mayes is functionally taking over oversight of the Apache County Attorney’s Office as a result of her investigation into Whiting, a Democrat.

On June 4, the AG’s Office served a search warrant at Whiting’s office and his home. Two days later, his office’s top staff wrote a letter asking him to resign. The letter further elaborated that Whiting was not present for the search and later turned off the GPS tracker on his government-issued vehicle and turned off his phone.

The AG’s Office has declined to comment on the scope and extent of the investigation, but a letter Mayes sent to the Apache County Board of Supervisors on Friday has shed some light on the matter.

“As part of an ongoing investigation into the alleged misuse of public monies and threatening and intimidating a political opponent, my office served a warrant on the Apache County Attorney’s Office on Tuesday, June 3, 2024,” Mayes wrote. “Seeking and executing a warrant on a County Attorney’s office was a significant decision that I did not take lightly. Since serving the search warrant, County Attorney Michael Whiting has not returned to the office, and attorneys from the office are now calling on him to resign.”

Mayes also said her office will now be overseeing the Apache County Attorney’s Office for the next 90 days, and she laid out a list of demands that the county will need to comply with in that time.

The Chief Deputy in Apache County now has decision-making authority because of Whiting’s continued absence, according to the letter. Mayes directed the agency to “preserve any and all evidence necessary for the Attorney General’s investigation” and said it must also provide monthly expenditure reports to the AG’s Criminal Division.

If Whiting returns to the office, he will have to seek approval from the chief of the AG’s criminal division before making any personnel decisions or spending more than $200. This division of the AG’s Office will also be assisting the Apache County chief deputy “as needed.”

“The exercise of my supervisory authority is intended to assist the Apache County Attorney’s Office, not control it,” Mayes’ letter said. “Nor is it intended to interfere with the Board of Supervisor’s (sic) authority over County Offices.”

Details on the warrant and the scope of Mayes’ investigation into Whiting remain unknown.

“The warrant issued earlier this week remains sealed by the court and the Attorney General’s Office has no additional comments to make at this time,” AG spokesperson Richie Taylor said.

Whiting claimed in an email to the Arizona Republic that he was “driving home from a pre-planned vacation with family.”

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and Twitter.

A fellow Republican accused former Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward of assault during the state party’s January meeting at a Phoenix church.

According to a police report obtained by the Arizona Mirror, Ward is accused of hitting a woman who criticized Ward’s involvement at the meeting, as she was no longer the party chair.

“I saw (Ward) turn back and lean over the first chair on her right and hit a woman in black with a yellow piece of paper,” a Phoenix police officer wrote in the report after viewing security camera footage from the Dream City Church where the event was being held. “She had the paper in her right hand and hit the woman in her right shoulder. It looked to be a fairly light tap on the video.”

The annual meeting was full of contentious moments as state committee members voted to elect Gina Swoboda to lead the party only days after the former chairman, Jeff DeWitt, resigned amid allegations of bribery by failed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake. Ward was reported to have cut in line and taken a microphone from one attendee’s hand.

Both Ward and the woman involved have different recollections of the incident.

Ward did not return messages seeking comment.

Laura Schafer, the victim who told police she wants to pursue assault charges, said as Ward walked past her she mentioned to her husband that Ward is no longer the chair, leading to Ward striking her “on the right side of her head and shoulder with both a fist and paper one time.”

Additional witnesses, including Schafer’s husband and Vera Gebran, a former candidate for the legislature, said they’d testify to seeing Ward hit the woman.

Ward told police that she had just finished speaking at the microphone when “a crazy lady started yelling at her” that she was no longer the party chair.

Ward said she “tapped her on the shoulder with a paper” she was holding and that no part of her hand or fist hit the woman. Ward told police that the “tap” was to “emphasize her point” that she was glad she is no longer the chair and denied assaulting the woman.

Police did not see any injuries on Schafer, and she did not report being injured.

The report says that police submitted the report to the Phoenix City Prosecutor’s Office for consideration of assault charges.

Ward was kept in an “isolated part of the church” away from Schafer in order to cast her vote, the report states.

Ward is also facing possible prosecution for her role as a fake elector in the 2020 election.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and Twitter.

Republican lawmakers are gearing up for a showdown with Gov. Katie Hobbs over creating a fix for an impending election timeline issue created by Republican changes to the state’s recount law which could lead to overseas and military voters becoming disenfranchised and the state’s choice for president not being counted.

The Republican proposal, which also includes provisions aimed at signature verification, the use of school facilities for voting and other changes, has already been deemed dead on arrival by Gov. Katie Hobbs, who said that she would only support a “clean fix.”

Any measure that is passed will also need two-thirds of the legislature to approve of it in order to trigger an emergency measure in the bill, allowing it to go into effect immediately.

On Tuesday, the Senate and House convened a special meeting to hear two bills aimed at addressing issues that Arizona counties and election officials say could disenfranchise military voters. The issue stems from a 2022 bill that greatly expanded when an automatic recount is triggered.

Counties and election officials have been stating that due to the change and the anticipated likelihood of automatic recounts being triggered under the new law, it will increase the risk of Arizona missing federal deadlines required for elections, such as the deadline to mail ballots to military members overseas. Officials also said that it could cause counties to miss the federal deadline for sending the state’s Presidential Electors to Congress.

Republicans and Democratic members of the legislature have been negotiating a fix to the issue since summer of 2023, however, if a fix is not made by this week, counties are anticipating that it could impact voters and lead to issues. Counties have been asking that the upcoming primary election be moved to earlier in the year to accommodate for the new recount thresholds and to allow for counties to meet these deadlines.

Tuesday’s meeting hearing the two Republican measures started off with a warning from Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, one of the chairs, who said that testimony on the bills would be limited and she would remove anyone who caused any disruptions.

Rogers also shot down any line of questioning related to if the bills could impact any litigation that Rep. Alexander Kolodin, R-Scottsdale, an election attorney, might currently be engaged in. Kolodin sponsored the House legislation.

And last year, he was sanctioned for election lawsuits he brought in Arizona following the 2020 election.

“We will not cast aspersions by deflecting to things that are not germane,” Rogers said after Sen. Priya Sundareshen, D-Tucson, asked about the impact of codifying parts of the Elections Procedures Manual on signature verification could impact litigation Kolodin has been involved in. “That is not a rabbit hole we are going down.”

Clean fix or not

Democrats and voting advocates have been pushing for a “clean fix” to the impending timeline issue faced by election officials.

Rep. Laura Terech, D-Scottsdale, put forward the Democrats’ own solution, which primarily focused on changing the timeline for recounts, canvassing and testing of election equipment. Democratic lawmakers stated that they would not support legislation that added additional policy changes to any bill aimed at addressing the issue.

During the press conference Monday, Sundareshen said that the “clean fix” solution put forward by the Democrats was created after “months” of negotiations with Republicans, who she said had agreed to many of the terms approximately two weeks ago.

Republicans offered a different view during Tuesday’s committee meeting.

Republican lawmakers said that their intention is to make sure counties are not “rushing” when it comes to certain procedures if timelines are crunched. They specifically cited signature verification, which was a key point in failed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s lawsuit aiming to overturn the 2022 election results.

Republicans contended that the bill simply codifies into law the guidelines around signature verification that were set forth by the Election Procedures Manual created by then Secretary of State Katie Hobbs in 2019.

“There is absolutely zero problem with codifying what the counties are already doing,” Rep. Jacqueline Parker, R-Mesa, said. “Let’s ensure that counties are following the law.”

However, Democratic members and voting rights advocates argued that the language in the bill is different from the EPM. In the bill, it states that a signature must be “clearly consistent,” which Democratic lawmakers and voting rights advocates said is a much higher standard than the current EPM which states that a signature that is different and can be “reasonably explained” can still be accepted.

“That’s going to stay in the bill,” Kolodin said, replying to his Democratic colleagues who voiced concern over the change.

Jen Marson, executive director for the Arizona Association of Counties, said that county recorders were on board with the change, though there has been some disagreement among county recorders. Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly sent a letter to the committee declaring her opposition to the bill.

Rep. Betty Villegas, D-Tucson, attempted to read the letter, but Rogers said Villegas couldn’t do so until they were voting on the bill.

“I guess my recorder doesn’t have a voice,” Villegas retorted.

Other county recorders did speak to the committee in support of the legislation, including Yavapai County Recorder Michelle Burchill and Pinal County Recorder Dana Lewis.

“I know it has been a lot of give and take on all sides,” Burchill told the committee. “We will make this work no matter what the version is.”

Marson echoed those sentiments during her testimony, saying that the counties were ready to implement changes in the bill and that they had been involved with negotiations with legislators since early last summer.

“We have done a great job of working with the players so far, and we can work with the different variations,” Marson said, adding that they do not want to see any more new policy changes added to the bills. “If you leave things in, we can do it. If you take things out, we can do it.”

However, Hobbs and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes have both made clear that they desire a “clean fix” to the problem.

“I have shown time and time again that I am willing to compromise, but I will not sign a bill that’s filled with harmful unrelated legislation or that hurts voters’ right to have their voice heard at the ballot box,” Hobbs said in a joint statement with Fontes. “I have been clear from day one: voters did not create this problem, and they should not be harmed to fix it.”

The main goal that counties are seeking to have done by this week is to save 19 days in the primary calendar and 17 in the general election so there is more time to contend with a possible automatic recount. Officials have repeatedly said that, in order to meet timelines, a fix must be done by Feb. 9.

Without a fix, election officials may be unable to send voters overseas their ballots in time for them to reach them and have the correct information on them in the case that a recount in the primary changes the ballot. Members of the Arizona National Guard Association have voiced their concerns about this possibility and have been urging lawmakers to pass a fix.

The Arizona Secretary of State’s Office was sued in 2018 by the U.S. Department of Justice after it concluded that absentee and UOCAVA ballots were not given enough time during a special election.

Republican lawmakers have also been opposed to an outright repeal of the 2022 recount law to return the state to its previous automatic recount thresholds.

Michele Ugenti-Rita, a former lawmaker from Scottsdale who spearheaded the recount change, and who is now running for the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, placed blame directly on the counties and election officials in a statement to the Arizona Mirror.

“It is shameful there is not greater outrage about the dereliction of duty perpetrated by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisor’s [sic] and county election officials who are unable and unwilling to perform their statutory duties and instead resort to pitiful scare tactics that exploit our nations [sic] real heroes,” Ugenti-Rita said.

The bill put forward by Republicans to fix the issue proposes several changes, including moving the Aug. 6 primary to July 30 this year, and then to March beginnin in 2026. It would also allow counties to send their voter canvasses to the secretary of state electronically, shorten the time counties have to submit their election canvass by three days, allow a candidate to opt out of a recount and allow for five calendar days instead of business days for voters to “cure” questioned signatures on early ballots.

The latter change gave Democratic lawmakers worry, as they claimed that switching the ballot cure period to include weekends could disenfranchise voters who use public transportation or live in rural communities. Republicans said that the change is for the better, allowing those who may not be able to cure their ballot during the weekday due to work to do so on the weekend instead.

Republicans said they are willing to amend certain parts of the bill to get buy-in from Democrats, but Kolodin insisted that the signature verification changes must remain.

Voting rights advocates, one of which was removed from Tuesday’s hearing, feel differently.

‘Take your seat, now!’

Ben Scheel, executive director for the left-leaning Opportunity Arizona, has been kicked out of and prohibited from testifying to legislative committees before.

Last session, Scheel and others voiced their concerns about Republican lawmakers silencing progressive organizations they disagreed with at the Capitol after he was denied the ability to speak at the House Elections Committee and then barred from ever doing so after he used the phrase “conspiracy theorist.”

Although Rogers said the legislative panels would hear from an equal number of supporters and opponents of the bill, Republicans only took testimony from a single person against the measure. When Scheel, who opposes the bill, approached the podium and asked if he could speak, he was yelled down by Rogers and others.

“Take your seat, now!” Rogers shouted, before calling for the Senate sergeant-at-arms to remove Scheel. Other members objected and asked if he could speak, but Rogers refused.

Parker, who booted Scheel from the House Municipal Oversight and Elections Committee last year, said that Scheel did not respect the body.

“It’s appalling,” Scheel said to the Mirror about being removed from the hearing.

“I believe they are making attempts that are undemocratic and harming voters, and their response is to not let the public comment on that,” he added. “I think they prove our point when they behave this way.”

Scheel said he believes that the legislature should only focus on a “clean fix” and believes that the bills proposed by Republicans will ultimately harm voters. He said that the changes to signature verification will ultimately lead to the tossing out of legitimate votes, adding that Republican lawmakers are “holding hostage” a fix for their own policy gains.

“They are simply trying to make it more difficult to validate signatures,” Scheel said, adding that he has never been stopped from providing testimony in the Senate before.

Rogers also disallowed questions related to Kolodin’s involvement in litigation surrounding signature verification, as well as how the legislation could impact it.

“Is anyone who is involved in those lawsuits, were they involved in these negotiations?” Sundareshen asked. When she pushed to ask the question again, Rogers cut her off.

“This is a far cry from the arrangement and agreement we came to a few weeks ago,” Sundareshen said later. “I fear that the signature verification aspect is intended to assist in ongoing litigation.”

Sen. Ken Bennett, R-Prescott, said he intends to reach out to both parties to hopefully address everyone’s concerns moving forward.

“I believe that all of the concerns that have been noted today…can and should be addressed between now and the committees of the whole in our respective bodies,” Bennett said.

Other Republicans said that, while not perfect, the fix is what is needed to ensure voters overseas can still participate in the upcoming elections.

“None of the curing process that we are proposing here is going to disenfranchise anybody,” Rep. Austin Smith, R-Surprise, said, adding that he is looking forward to seeing the bill further amended.

Both the Senate and House bills passed out of committee along party lines. They’ll next be considered by their respective chambers, where they will need a vote of two-thirds of all lawmakers in order for it to pass and go into effect immediately instead of 90 days after legislators end their annual session, which typically happens in May or June.

Republicans hold one-vote majorities in each body, meaning Democratic opposition will ensure the fix won’t be in place to change anything for this year’s elections.

Those opposed to the measure have stated they intend to continue to fight for a “clean fix.”

“They are holding our elections hostage in order to make it easier to invalidate ballots from MAGA extreme Republican attorneys,” Scheel said.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and Twitter.

For the second time in five months, Republican state lawmakers listened intently and offered no pushback during a day-long special hearing at the Arizona Senate billed as examining the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic that was instead rife with conspiracy theories, misinformation and fear-mongering around vaccines and public health.

In May, the Novel Coronavirus Southwestern Intergovernmental Committee featured testimony from a group of supposed health experts who spread myriad misinformation about vaccines and the pandemic during the committee’s time. On Friday, the committee convened again, bringing some of the same people to speak.

The committee had previously faced criticism for its awkward name, which has been promoted in abbreviated form by the QAnon-friendly political nonprofit The America Project. The abbreviated name, NCSWIC, is a commonly used abbreviation in the QAnon world, where it means “Nothing Can Stop What Is Coming,” alluding to predictions of arrests and executions of members of the “deep state.”

Although the official name of the panel spells the word “southwestern” correctly, the committee was listed as “NCSWIC” on the Arizona Legislature’s website and the abbreviation was used by outside boosters.

The Republican elected officials on the panel were state Sens. T.J. Shope and Janae Shamp, the chair and vice-chair, respectively, of the state Senate’s Health and Human Services Committee; state Rep. Steve Montenegro, who chairs the state House of Representatives’ Health and Human Services Committee; and U.S. Reps. Andy Biggs, Eli Crane and Paul Gosar.

While the state legislators were in attendance, Biggs, Crane and Gosar only appeared electronically and delivered pre-recorded video addresses. All three were in Washington, D.C., Friday as Republicans are locked in a fight over who should lead the U.S. House of Representatives.

“It’s disheartening to see Arizona’s elected officials once again provide a platform for spreading dangerous disinformation about vaccines for children,” Becky Christensen, founder and state campaigns director of SAFE Communities Coalition, the nation’s first pro-vaccine political advocacy organization, said in a statement to the Arizona Mirror. “Public health should be guided by fact-based information, not misinformation. Their actions undermine efforts to safeguard our communities.”

Christensen added that lawmakers should seek “responsible and informed discourse” to help better guide public health decisions.

Misinformation returns

Dr. Peter McCoullough once again boldly proclaimed that the COVID-19 virus came from a lab in Wuhan, China. There is no consensus on the origin of the virus.

McCoullough is known for spreading unfounded claims, especially around the origins of the virus. He previously has stated that he believed the pandemic was “planned” and has promoted the QAnon conspiracy film “Plandemic.”

McCoullough has become a darling to those in both QAnon and the broader conspiracy world, appearing regularly on shows like the one hosted by conspiracy theorist Stew Peters, who said the COVID vaccine is a “bioweapon.” Peters also was behind multiple QAnon conspiracy documentaries that made dubious claims about the vaccine, including that it included snake venom.

McCoullough has also appeared on disgraced retired Gen. Michael Flynn’s “Reawaken America” tour, where he has denounced drag shows and gender identity issues.

During Friday’s hearing, McCoullough spread even more falsehoods around COVID-19 and vaccine efficacy.

“It is called ‘turbo cancer’ for a reason,” McCoullough said, adding that he believes it is “theoretically possible” that multiple vaccines “could be related to cancer.”

The term “turbo cancer” comes from people who have spread false information about the COVID vaccine, attempting to link it to an aggressive form of cancer. There is no established link between the vaccine and cancer, and studies have found either no association or found a decreased risk of lymphoma.

McCoullough also continued to spread a false claim that 17 million people have been killed by the vaccine. The notion comes from a highly flawed analysis of data claiming that mortality rates were spiking because of the vaccine. McCoullough also spread other similar claims, such as saying that more than 500,000 people in the United States were killed by the vaccine, an idea based on a misrepresentation of United Kingdom data.

And McCoullough appeared to make claims that alluded to a conspiracy theory widely adopted by QAnon adherents, which was featured in a discredited film, claiming that blood clots found in people’s bodies were caused by the COVID vaccine.

The film, “Died Suddenly,” suggests it is all part of a shadowy plot to depopulate the world. But experts who have examined the film’s claims have said that many of the clots appear to be post-mortem clots. Cases of clots caused by the vaccine are “very rare,” according to one study that found only approximately 1,000 cases out of 2 million. The movie also featured incidents that occurred before the pandemic in 2020, but presented them as consequences of vaccination.

A member of the panel also has a direct connection to the conspiracy film.

Dr. Peter Chambers, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, appears in the film speaking about the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database, or DMED, which he claimed showed a spike in medical conditions in the military which he attributed to COVID-19 vaccines.

Chambers’ claim has been debunked since 2021 by multiple fact-checkers.

The former military doctor is also a believer in the debunked conspiracy theory that 5G cellular technology is connected to the COVID-19 virus. Chambers also was part of a failed lawsuit seeking to prevent the military from implementing a COVID vaccine mandate.

Chambers’ presentation to the committee included a slide that referred to the “globalists.”

The globalist conspiracy theory is a far-right conspiracy theory with roots in antisemitism and is also often connected to the idea of a “New World Order” and a one-world government, most often with the Jewish people at the center of the conspiracy. Peters, the conspiracy theory talk show host and the man behind “Died Suddenly,” frequently works with antisemites and white supremacists. Chambers has also been supported by the America Project, which boosted the hearing and helped fund the Arizona Senate’s partisan “audit” of the 2020 election.

Also returning to the committee was Aaron Siri, an attorney who is most well known for his work with an organization called the Informed Consent Action Network, or ICAN.

ICAN has been on the frontlines of anti-vaccine misinformation and is led by Del Bigtree, a television and film producer who has become an anti-vaccine activist. ICAN was listed as one of the “key organizations” tied to the Center for Countering Digital Hate’s “The Disinformation Dozen,” the anti-vaxxers who play leading roles in spreading digital misinformation about COVID vaccines. Chambers mentioned that he worked with Bigtree on anti-vaccine issues.

Siri claimed that “you can’t say vaccines have reduced chronic health issues” among children.

“I’m not saying vaccines cause those,” he said, sharing a misleading claim on chronic illness in children. “Something is definitely going on.”

The committee also heard from Arizona resident Calli Varner, who claimed that she had a stroke due to the COVID vaccine.

Varner had an ischemic stroke when a blood-clot made its way to her brain. Strokes have been on the rise in younger populations, with doctors theorizing that one cause could be patent foramen ovale, which is present in between 24 to 40% of the population and generally goes unnoticed.

Varner told the committee that she has had various health problems develop, including an autoimmune issue, since she got vaccinated. McCoullough said he had been consulting with the Scottsdale resident about her experience and used the opportunity to say that strokes, infertility and immune disorders are being caused by the vaccine.

Studies have shown that those who contracted COVID-19 have an increased risk of stroke, while those who got the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines and did not contract COVID -19 have “no difference in stroke risk.” There is also no evidence that the vaccine causes infertility and no conclusive evidence to suggest a link between the vaccine and autoimmune disorders.

McCoullough also once again spoke about the scientifically unsound plan to help people remove spike proteins from people’s bodies.

Shamp, a former nurse who has claimed she was fired because she refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine, came up with the idea for the hearing and those in attendance applauded her for putting it together.

Shamp, who was present during the events of Jan. 6, has spread a multitude of QAnon conspiracy theories online for years, including a post with “NCSWIC” in it. Shamp said at the end of the hearing Friday that another one will be happening “sometime in December.”

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and Twitter.