The firm hired to conduct an audit of the 2020 presidential election vote in Arizona’s Maricopa County raised more than $5.7 million in private donations to finance the effort.
Cyber Ninjas, a Florida-based private contractor leading the effort, announced on Wednesday that it raked in more than $5.7 million dollars to fund the audit, according to The Washington Post, most of which came from five groups that have backed claims that the election was stolen from former President Trump.
The Arizona state Senate also authorized $150,000 in taxpayer money to be used to finance the effort while also allowing Cyber Ninjas to solicit donations, the Post noted, adding that more than 97 percent of the audit's costs have been financed by people who support the false allegations that the election was stolen.
Cyber Ninjas reportedly revealed in a statement that American Project, a company led by former Overstock chief executive Patrick Byrne, donated $3.25 million to the effort.
Byrne, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and attorney Sidney Powell reportedly pushed Trump during a December Oval Office meeting to probe voting machines in key counties in the U.S.
Voices and Votes, a group headed by One America News host Christina Bobb, reportedly funneled $605,000 to the Maricopa County effort. Bobb previously asked for donations during her appearances on the pro-Trump network.
Republicans in the Arizona state Senate voted in April to approve an audit of the 2020 election vote in Maricopa County, despite a number of inspections confirming that the ballots were counted accurately.
President Biden won Arizona’s 11 electoral votes over Trump by just less than 11,000 votes, becoming the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the state in decades.
Trump and his allies have since claimed that the vote was influenced by fraud. The effort, however, has received pushback from members of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, which is dominated by Republicans.
Arizona Senate President Karen Fann (R) announced on Wednesday that the audit’s public efforts have come to a close and ballots will be sent back to Maricopa County on Thursday, the Post noted.
Fann reportedly said Cyber Ninjas’ final report will likely be available in August
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-...ntractor-raises-57m-in-private-donations
