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More human remains found at Lake Mead as water levels drop in drought

More human remains found at Lake Mead as water levels drop in drought

National Park Service rangers found more human remains at the drought-hit Lake Mead National Recreation Area to the east of Las Vegas over the weekend.

Why it matters: It’s fourth such discovery in the nation’s largest reservoir by volume since May as a megadrought sinks Lake Mead’s water levels to the lowest since 1937, per AP.

Details: “National Park Service rangers received an emergency call reporting the discovery of human skeletal remains at Swim Beach in Lake Mead National Recreation Area,” Nevada, on Saturday morning, according to an NPS statement.

  • Park rangers worked to recover the remains with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s dive team, the NPS said.
  • The Clark County Medical Examiner is investigating the cause of death.

Driving the news: The Southwest is in the grip of a megadrought lasting more than two decades and studies show it’s more severe than any in at least 1,200 years, which is being driven in large part by climate change, Axios’ Andrew Freedman notes.

The big pictures: Lake Mead spans Nevada and Arizona and is part of the vast Colorado River basin that provides water for agriculture and human consumption to seven states, while also generating electricity at the massive Hoover Dam.

Go deeper: New Colorado River drought discovery shows how bad things can get

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Trump ally Kari Lake wins GOP primary for Arizona governor

Trump ally Kari Lake wins GOP primary for Arizona governor

PHOENIX (AP) — Kari Lake, a former news anchor who walked away from her journalism career and was embraced by Donald Trump and his staunch supporters, won the Republican primary for Arizona governor on Thursday.

Lake’s victory was a blow to the GOP establishment that lined up behind lawyer and businesswoman Karrin Taylor Robson in an attempt to push their party past the chaotic Trump era. Lake said she would not have certified President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory and put false claims of election fraud at the center of his campaign.

“Arizonans who have been forgotten by the establishment just delivered a political earthquake,” Lake said in a statement after the race was called.

Republicans now enter the general election sprint with a slate of nominees closely allied with Trump who deny that Biden was legitimately elected president. Lake will face Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs in the November election.

“This race for governor isn’t about Democrats or Republicans. It’s a choice between sanity and chaos,” Hobbs said Thursday night in a statement on Lake’s victory.

Early election results showing only mail ballots received before Election Day gave Robson a solid lead, but that was whittled down as votes from polling places were added to the tally. Lake’s victory became clear Thursday when Maricopa County released results from thousands of mail ballots dropped off at the polls on Tuesday.

“The voters of Arizona have spoken,” Robson said in a statement conceding to Lake late Thursday. “I accept the results, I trust the process and the people who administer it.”

In a midterm primary season with mixed results for Trump’s favored candidates, the former president came out on top in Arizona, a state that has been central to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and cast doubt on Biden’s victory. In addition to Lake, Trump’s picks for US Senate, secretary of stateattorney general, US House and the state Legislature all won their GOP primaries.

If they win in November, Trump allies will hold sway over the administration of elections in a crucial battleground state as he considers another bid for the White House in 2024. The results also show that Trump remains a powerful figure in the GOP as longtime party stalwarts get increasingly bold in their efforts to reassert control ahead of the next presidential campaign.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie all campaigned for Robson in the days before the election.

Robson, who is married to one of Arizona’s richest men, largely self-funded her campaign. She called the 2020 election “unfair” but stopped short of calling it fraudulent and pushed for the GOP to look toward the future.

Lake now faces the daunting task of uniting the Republican Party after a bruising primary. On Wednesday, as Lake declared victory prematurely, she attempted to reach out to Robson and others she fiercely criticized as RINOs, or Republicans in Name Only, who don’t align with Trump on key issues.

“Frankly, this party needs her to come together, and I welcome her,” Lake said of Robson. “And I hope that she will come over for this.”

Robson said she’s spent her life supporting Republicans, “and it is my hope that our Republican nominees are successful in November.”

Like Trump, Lake courts controversy and confrontation. She berates journalists and dodges questions. She burned masks during the COVID-19 surge in the summer of 2021 and attacked Republicans like Ducey who allowed restrictions on businesses, though as a news anchor she encouraged people to follow public health guidance.

Lake spent the days leading up to her own election claiming there were signs of fraud, but she refused to provide any evidence. Once her victory for her was assured, she said voters should trust her win for her is legitimate.

“We outvoted the fraud,” Lake said. She pointed to problems in Pinal County, which ran out of ballots in some precincts and had to print more, but she and her attorney, Tim La Sota, refused to provide evidence backing up her claims of fraud.

She said she has no plans to stop talking about election fraud even as she needs to broaden her appeal beyond the loyalists her powered her primary victory.

Federal and state election officials and Trump’s own attorney general have said there is no credible evidence the 2020 election was tainted. Trump’s allegations of fraud were also roundly rejected by courts, including by judges he appointed. A hand recount led by Trump supporters in Maricopa County, Arizona’s largest, found no proof of a stolen election and concluded Biden’s margin of victory was larger than the official count.

Hobbs, Lake’s opponent in November, went after the candidate over her opposition to abortion rights and gun control and a proposal she floated to put cameras in every classroom to keep an eye on teachers.

Republicans, moving toward November as a divided party in Arizona, need to make an appeal to the independent voters who decide to close races, said Chuck Coughlin, a longtime Republican strategist who left the party during the Trump era.

“I see it as a challenge the Republicans are going to have: How do they narrate to unaffiliated voters?” Coughlin said.

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Brittney Griner trial: Verdict expected Thursday

Russian prosecutors seek 9 1/2-year sentence for Griner

KHIMKI, Russia (AP) — An emotional Brittney Griner apologized in a Russian court Thursday as her drug possession trial drew to a close Thursday, and a prosecutor urged that the American basketball star be convicted and sentenced to 9 1/2 years in prison in a case that reached the highest levels of US-Russia diplomacy.

With a judge set to issue an unusually swift verdict later in the day and a conviction all but certain, Griner made a final appeal to the court. She said she had no intention to break the law by bringing vape cartridges with cannabis oil when she flew to Moscow in February to play basketball in the city of Yekaterinburg.

“I want to apologize to my teammates, my club, my fans and the city of (Yekaterinburg) for my mistake that I made and the embarrassment that I brought on them,” Griner said, her voice cracking. “I want to also apologize to my parents, my siblings, the Phoenix Mercury organization back at home, the amazing women of the WNBA, and my amazing spouse back at home.”

Under Russian law, the 31-year-old Griner faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. but judges have considerable latitude on sentencing.

If she does not go free, attention will turn to the high-stakes possibility of a prisoner swap, which was proposed last week by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to his Russian counterpart.

She said she made “an honest mistake,” adding: “hope in your ruling it does not end my life.”

Griner said Yekaterinburg, a city east of the Ural Mountains, had become her “second home.”

“I had no idea that the team, the cities, the fans, my teammates would make such a great impression on me over the six and a half years that I spent here,” she said. “I remember vividly coming out of the gym and all the little girls that were in the stands there waiting on me, and that’s what kept making me come back here.”

Lawyers for the Phoenix Mercury center and two-time Olympic gold medalist have pursued strategies to bolster Griner’s contention that she had no criminal intent and that the canisters ended up in her luggage due to hasty packing. They have presented character witnesses from the Russian team that she plays for in the WNBA offseason and written testimony from a doctor who said he prescribed her cannabis for pain treatment.

Griner lawyer Maria Blagovolina argued that Griner brought the cartridges with her to Russia inadvertently and only used cannabis to treat her pain from injuries sustained in her career. She said she used it only in Arizona, where medical marijuana is legal.

She emphasized that Griner was packing in haste after a grueling flight and suffering from the consequences of COVID-19. Blagovolina also pointed out that the analysis of cannabis found in Griner’s possession was flawed and violated legal procedures.

Blagovolina asked the court to acquit Griner, noting that she had no past criminal record and hailing her role in “the development of Russian basketball.”

Another defense attorney, Alexander Boykov, also emphasized Griner’s role in taking her Yekaterinburg team to win multiple championships, noting that she was loved and admired by her teammates.

He told the judge that a conviction would undermine Russia’s efforts to develop national sports and make Moscow’s call to depoliticize sports sound shallow.

Boykov added that even after her arrest, Griner won the sympathy of both her guards and prison inmates, who supported her by shouting, “Brittney, everything will be OK!” when she went on walks at the jail.

Prosecutor Nikolai Vlasenko insisted that Griner packed the cannabis oil deliberately, and he asked the court to hand Briner a fine of 1 million rubles (about $16,700) in addition to the prison sentence.

If she does not go free, attention will turn to the high-stakes possibility of a prisoner swap.

Before her trial began in July, the State Department designated her as “wrongfully detained,” moving her case under the supervision of its special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, effectively the government’s chief hostage negotiator.

Then last week, in an extraordinary moveBlinken spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, urging him to accept a deal under which Griner and Paul Whelan, an American imprisoned in Russia on an espionage conviction, would go free.

The Lavrov-Blinken call marked the highest-level known contact between Washington and Moscow since Russia sent troops into Ukraine more than five months ago. The direct outreach over Griner is at odds with US efforts to isolate the Kremlin.

People familiar with the proposal say it envisions trading Griner and Whelan for the notorious arms trader Viktor Bout, who is serving a prison sentence in the United States. It underlines the public pressure that the White House has faced to get Griner released.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday that Russia has made a “bad faith” response to the US government’s offer, a counteroffer that American officials don’t regard as serious. She declined to elaborate.

Russian officials have scoffed at US statements about the case, saying they show a disrespect for Russian law. They remained poker-faced, urging Washington to discuss the issue through “quiet diplomacy without releases of speculative information.”

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Arizona GOP primary tests power of Trump’s election lies

Arizona GOP primary tests power of Trump's election lies

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Republicans were deciding Tuesday between a well-known former news anchor and a development attorney in the race for governor of a crucial battleground state.

Former President Donald Trump backed Kari Lake, who walked away from her nearly three-decade career in television news and embraced his lies about the 2020 election. She faced Karrin Taylor Robson, who was backed by prominent Republicans around the country looking to push their party to move on from Trump.

The race was too early to call, with Lake and Robson separated by a slim margin.

As the midterm primary season enters its final stretch this month, the Arizona races are poised to provide important clues about the GOP’s direction. Victories by Trump-backed candidates could provide the former president with allies who hold sway over the administration of elections as he considers another bid for the White House in 2024. Defeats, however, might suggest openness in the party to a different path forward.

The former president endorsed and campaigned for a slate of contenders who support his falsehoods, including Lake, who says she would have refused to certify President Joe Biden’s narrow Arizona victory. Robson said the GOP should focus on the future despite an election she called “unfair.”

In the race to oversee elections as Arizona secretary of state, Trump also backed a state lawmaker who was at the US Capitol on Jan. 6 and claims the former president was cheated out of victory.

“I think the majority of the people, and a lot of people that are supporters of Trump, they want to move on,” said former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who is backing Robson. “I mean, that was two years ago. Let’s go. Let’s move.”

The election is playing out on one of the biggest midterm primary nights of the year — one that had some warning signs for Republicans.

In Kansas, voters rejected a state constitutional amendment that would have allowed the Legislature to restrict or ban abortion. They were the first voters to weigh in on abortion rights since the US Supreme Court revoked the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy.

The rejection in a conservative state is a sign of potential energy for Democrats, who hope the anger at the court’s abortion ruling will overcome inflation concerns and President Joe Biden’s flagging popularity.

Tudor Dixona conservative commentator, won the GOP primary for Michigan governor, emerging atop a field of little-known conservatives days after Trump endorsed her. She will face Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in November.

Republican Rep. Peter Meijer lost to a Trump-backed challenger and a pair of Washington lawmakers were fighting to hang onto their seats after voting to impeach Trump following the Jan. 6 insurrection.

And in Missouri, Attorney General Eric Schmitt won the Republican nomination for senator and will face Democrat Trudy Busch Valentine, an heiress of the Anheuser-Busch beer fortune. And two Republican House members from Washington state who voted to impeach Trump are facing primary challengers.

But the contests are especially salient in Arizona, a longtime Republican stronghold that has become more favorable to Democrats. in recent years because of explosive growth in and around Phoenix. The primary and the fall election will provide insight into whether Biden’s success here in 2020 was a onetime event or the onset of a long-term shift away from the GOP.

With such high stakes, Arizona has been central to efforts by Trump and his allies to cast doubt on Biden’s victory with false claims of fraud.

Federal and state election officials and Trump’s own attorney general have said there is no credible evidence the election was tainted. The former president’s allegations of fraud were also roundly rejected by courts, including by judges Trump appointed. A hand recount led by Trump supporters in Arizona’s largest county found no proof of a stolen election and concluded Biden’s margin of victory was larger than the official count.

Though Trump is still the most popular figure inside the GOP, his efforts to influence primary elections this year have yielded mixed results. His preferred candidates of him in states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania prevailed in their primaries.

But in Georgia, another state that is central to Trump’s election lies, his handpicked candidate for governor was defeated by more than 50 percentage points. Georgia’s Republican secretary of state was also renominated over a Trump-backed primary rival.

“You have entrusted me with your most sacred possession in a constitutional republic — your vote,” Robson told supporters as she awaited election results.

The former president is hoping he’ll have more success in Arizona, where the incumbent governor, Doug Ducey, can’t run for reelection. That could give Trump a better opportunity than in Georgia to influence the winner.

Lake is well known in much of the state after anchoring the evening news in Phoenix for more than two decades. She ran as a fierce critic of the mainstream media, which she says is unfair to Republicans, and other enemies of Trump’s Make America Great Again movement, including the late Sen. John McCain’s family.

A vocal supporter of Trump’s election lies, Lake said her campaign was “already detecting some stealing going on” in her own race, but she repeatedly refused to provide any evidence for the claim.

Robson, whose housing developer husband is one of the state’s richest men, is mostly self-financing her campaign. The GOP establishment, growing increasingly comfortable creating distance from Trump, rallied around her over the past month with a series of endorsements from Ducey, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Vice President Mike Pence.

The groundswell of establishment support for Robson drew national scrutiny to the race for what it says about the GOP base ahead of the crucial presidential primary in two years.

“Everyone wants to try to make this some kind of proxy for 2024,” said Christie, who ran for president in 2016. “Believe me, I’ve been through enough of these to know that 2024 will be decided by the people who step up to the plate … and how they perform or don’t perform at that time.”

Robson is running a largely old-school Republican campaign focused on cutting taxes and regulations, securing the border and advancing school choice. She has also emphasized Lake’s prior support for Democrats, including a $350 contribution to the last Democratic president.

“I can’t vote for someone who supported Barack Obama,” said Travis Fillmore, 36, a firearms instructor from Tempe who planned to vote for Robson. He said he remains a Trump backer and believes the 2020 election was stolen from him, but Lake’s support for Obama was disqualifying.

On the Democratic side, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs defeated Marco Lopez, a former mayor of Nogales and border enforcement official during Obama’s administration.

As Arizona’s top elections official, Hobbs endeared herself to Democrats with an impassioned defense of the integrity of the 2020 election, a stance that has drawn death threats. However, she’s been weighed down by a discrimination case won by a Black policy adviser from Hobbs’ time in the Legislature.

Trump-backed Blake Masters won the Arizona GOP Senate race. He is a 35-year-old first-time candidate who has spent most of his career working for billionaire Peter Thiel, who is bankrolling his campaign. Masters emphasized cultural grievances that encourage the right, including critical race theory and allegations of big tech censorship.

Until Trump’s endorsementthe race had no clear front-runner among Masters, businessman Jim Lamon and Attorney General Mark Brnovich, all of whom jockeyed for his support.

Lamon said Trump made a mistake in endorsing Masters and dug into his own fortune to highlight Masters’ ties to technology firms and his writings as a college student supporting open borders. Lamon signed a falsely stating that Trump had won certificate Arizona in 2020 and that he was one of the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors.

Trump soured on Brnovich and may have torpedoed his campaign when the attorney general’s election fraud investigation failed to produce criminal charges against election officials.

Masters will take on incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in the fall.

The Republican race for Arizona secretary of state was won by Mark Finchem, a Trump-backed candidate who was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His competition included Shawnna Bolick, a state lawmaker who has pushed for legislation allowing the Legislature to overturn the will of the voters and decide which candidate gets the state’s 11 electoral votes for president. The GOP establishment rallied around advertising executive Beau Lane, who says there were no widespread problems with the 2020 election.

Republican state House Speaker Rusty Bowerswho gave testimony to the House Jan. 6 committee on Trump’s pressure campaign following the 2020 election, was defeated by a Trump-backed challenger in his bid to move up to the state Senate.

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Live updates, watch parties and results as they come in

Live updates, watch parties and results as they come in

Tune in to FOX 10 Phoenix for the latest news:

PHOENIX – We’re watching Arizona Primary Election races from across the state on Aug. 2, which includes those running for governor, attorney general, US Senate, Secretary of State, House seats and other highly contested races.

We’ll be providing up-to-date information on candidates and their progress in respective races, live looks at watch parties, and results as they come in, which is expected at 8 pm

UPDATES –

11:33 p.m.

This wraps up our election coverage for tonight (August 2). Check back tomorrow morning for more election results.

11:31 p.m.

11:30 p.m.

2022 Election: GOP Senate Hopeful Blake Masters addresses supporters

Masters is one of a number of candidates in the GOP primary for this year’s US Senate election. No news agencies have made a projection on the Arizona Republican Party Senatorial Primary, as of 11:20 pm on Aug. 2. Whoever wins the GOP primary will face incumbent Democratic Senator Mark Kelly in November. Kelly ran unopposed in the Democratic Party Senatorial Primary.

11:27 p.m.

11:26 p.m.

Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is trailing his opponent in the race to be Fountain Hill’s mayor.

The former sheriff said during the late night hours of August 2 that the vote totals so far came from early ballots, and he was awaiting the totals of in-person voting.

If Arpaio loses in the mayoral election, it would mark his fourth electoral defeat in recent years.

Read More

11:15 p.m.

(A.P. Report) Voters on the vast Navajo Nation have advanced tribal presidential candidates Jonathan Nez and Buu Nygren to the general election in November.

Voters narrowed the list of 15 candidates in the primary election Tuesday.

The Navajo Nation is the largest Native American reservation in the US, extending into New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. The candidates pushed platforms that included economic development, ensuring that basic needs such as running water and electricity are met and finding ways to preserve the Navajo language.

11:10 p.m.

10:58 p.m.

2022 Primary Election: Political analyst talks about Arizona’s Gubernatorial Primary

FOX 10’s Marc Martinez and Ellen McNamara spoke with political consultant Charles Coughlin on the ballot count so far in the primary election, as well as the state of both leading campaigns in the GOP primary for governor.

10:53 p.m.

10:47 p.m.

The Associated Press is projecting Kirsten Engel to win the Democratic primary in Arizona’s 6th Congressional District. That district covers portions of Cochise, Graham, Pinal and Pima Counties, as well as the whole of Greenlee County.

10:40 p.m.

Kari Lake addresses supporters amid ongoing primary vote count

Lake is running against Karrin Taylor Robson and a number of other candidates for the Republican Party nomination for Arizona Governor. The state’s current governor, Doug Ducey, cannot run again due to term limits.

10:38 p.m.

10:28 p.m.

Karrin Taylor Robson addresses supporters amid ongoing primary vote count

Karrin Taylor Robson is running against Kari Lake and a number of other candidates for the Republican Party nomination for Arizona Governor. The state’s current governor, Doug Ducey, cannot run again due to term limits.

10:24 p.m.

Pinal County elections officials have provided a live feed of ballots being counted

https://www.pinalcountyaz.gov/elections/Pages/LiveVideoFeed.aspx

10:12 p.m.

10:00 pm

2022 Primary Election: Arizona political expert analyzes the results

FOX 10’s John Hook and Christina Carilla spoke with political consultant Charles Coughlin, who breaks down the election results, as it stood at around 9:30 pm on August 2, 2022.

9:54 p.m.

Michelle Udall released a statement. She is one of five candidates, including write-in candidates, in the GOP primary for Superintendent of Public Instruction

9:39 p.m.

9:22 p.m.

9:10 p.m.

The question now, in terms of the ballot counting process, is what happens from here on out?

According to a statement released by the Maricopa County Elections Department, they will publish in-person Election Day results as they are returned from each of the 210 Vote Centers throughout the night. They estimate 106,000 ballots were cast in person on Aug. 2.

“Starting Wednesday, August 3, the Elections Department will begin to sign verify and process the early ballots dropped off on Monday and at the polls today. We’ll update unofficial results daily by 7:00 pm until all verified ballots are counted. We ‘ll also provide a daily update of the estimated ballots left to count,” read a portion of the statement.

Elections counting officials say they can’t complete until after the Aug. 9 statutory deadline for the following:

  • Conditional Provisional Ballots, cast by voters who did not provide sufficient ID when voting in-person.
  • Questionable Signatures, or ballots cast by voters whose early ballot signature were questioned. Those voters have a chance to cure the signature issue.

8:49 p.m.

Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Marco Lopez released a statement after the AP projected his opponent, Katie Hobbs, to win the primary race.

The last line, written in Spanish, translates to “It always seems impossible until it becomes reality.”

8:46 p.m.

Katie Hobbs addresses supporters after projected Democratic gubernatorial primary win

Katie Hobbs, who is Arizona’s incumbent Secretary of State, is projected by the Associated Press to defeat former Nogales mayor Marco Lopez in the Democratic gubernatorial primary.

8:39 p.m.

8:19 p.m.

8:16 p.m.

8:12 p.m.

8:02 p.m.

8 p.m.

The first batch of election results are released. Click here to view them.

7:05 p.m.

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer says 106,000 in-person votes have been counted, so far.

7 p.m.

Polls have officially closed in Arizona.

6:59 p.m.

6:53 p.m.

5:38 p.m.

FOX 10 has received several calls and emails on Election Day from viewers saying they had issues with the voting in Pinal County, in-person. Some people said they couldn’t get a ballot to vote because some locations ran out.

MORE: Primary Election 2022: Confusion in Pinal County caused by ‘unprecedented demand for in-person ballots’

5:00 pm

It’s Election Day in Arizona and voters from around the state are heading to the polls for the 2022 Primary. Voters will decide on candidates for governor, senate, congressional races, and dozens of state and local contests. Many voters have already cast their ballots, but plenty of people are still showing up tonight at the polls.

Arizona Governor Race:

Arizona GOP Primary Election update – 9 pm

FOX 10’s Stephanie Bennett and Brian Webb reports.

Arizona Gov. GOP Primary watch party – 9 pm

FOX 10’s Stephanie Bennett reports.

Democratic

libertarian

Republican

The AP is projecting that Katie Hobbs has won the gubernatorial Democratic Party primary.

Attorney general race:

Arizona Attorney General Election Day update – 9 pm

FOX 10’s Justin Lum reports.

Democratic

libertarian

Republican

Arizona Senator race:

Arizona Primary Senate race update – 9 pm

FOX 10’s Linda Williams reports.

Democratic

libertarian

Republican

More races:

Not finding information on a race you’re looking for? Click here.

Further coverage:

What to watch in the Arizona Primary Election

Arizona, which Democrat Joe Biden narrowly won in 2020, is a top target for former President Donald Trump, who tried in vain to get his defeat overturned. He has endorsed a slate of candidates up and down the ballot who have promoted his false claims of a stolen election.

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Arizona official refutes review that counted 282 dead voters

Arizona official refutes review that counted 282 dead voters

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said Monday his investigators found just one dead voter after thoroughly reviewing findings from a partisan review of the 2020 election that alleged 282 ballots were cast in the name of someone who had died.

The finding by the Republican attorney general, who is running for the US Senate in Tuesday’s primary, further discredits the review conducted last year. The review was led by an inexperienced firm, Cyber ​​Ninjas, and conducted largely by supporters of Donald Trump who falsely believe the election was stolen from him.

“Our agents investigated all individuals that Cyber ​​Ninjas reported as dead, and many were very surprised to learn that they were allegedly deceased,” Brnovich wrote in a letter to state Senate President Karen Fann, who used her subpoena power to obtain ballots, tabulators and election data and hired Cyber ​​Ninjas for what she called a “forensic audit.”

For the one substantiated incident, “the facts of the case did not support prosecution,” said Ryan Anderson, a spokesman for Brnovich. He said the dead person’s ballot was not counted. None of the three criminal cases the attorney general has filed over dead voters was connected to the Cyber ​​Ninjas investigation, he said.

Brnovich did not say whether any charges had been filed in connection with the one substantiated incident, and his spokesman, Ryan Anderson, did not respond to a phone call and text message. All other people listed by Cyber ​​Ninjas as deceased “were found to be current voters,” Brnovich wrote.

Combined with other reports of dead voters, Brnovich’s Election Integrity Unit investigated a combined 409 names and produced “only a handful of potential cases.”

Brnovich vouched for the legitimacy of the election immediately after President Joe Biden’s victory but later publicized his investigation of the Cyber ​​Ninjas allegations as he sought Trump’s endorsement for his Senate campaign. Trump ultimately released a scathing statement saying Brnovich wasn’t doing enough to advance his claims of fraud and endorsed businessman Blake Masters.

Federal and state election officials and Trump’s own attorney general have said there is no credible evidence the election was tainted. The former president’s allegations of fraud were also roundly rejected by courts, including by judges Trump appointed.

The Cyber ​​Ninjas review looked at data, machines and ballots from Maricopa County, the state’s largest. It produced a report that experts described as riddled with errors, bias and flawed methodology. Still, even that partisan review came up with a vote tally that would not have altered the outcome, finding that Biden won by 360 more votes than the official results.

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