Private Donors – Including Stop the Steal Advocates – Have Paid $5.7 Million for Arizona Audit

PHOENIX, AZ - MAY 01: Contractors working for Cyber Ninjas, who was hired by the Arizona State Senate, examine and recount ballots from the 2020 general election at Veterans Memorial Coliseum on May 1, 2021 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Maricopa County ballot recount comes after two election audits found no evidence of widespread fraud. (Photo by Courtney Pedroza/Getty Images)

Tabulating votes is one of the government’s most fundamental roles. But in Arizona, a highly partisan recount of Maricopa County’s 2020 presidential ballots is being funded by a cluster of conspiracy theorists and Trump diehards.

According to a new report in the The Washington Post, private donors have shelled out $5.7 million dollars to fund the scandal-plagued operation, which has blown past its May deadline. Taxpayers, on the other hand, contributed $150,000.

“More than 97 percent of the audit’s costs have so far been shouldered by donations from five organizations led by people who have promoted the false claim that the election was stolen,” reports The Post.

The roof. Is. Leaking. https://t.co/ChpddQN94f
— Brahm Resnik (@brahmresnik) July 23, 2021

Among those big money, Big Lie proponents is Patrick Byrne, the former CEO of Overstock.com. Byrne has become one of the most prominent voices of the MAGA fringe, having attended an Oval Office meeting with then President Donald Trump in December alongside former national security adviser Michael Flynn and Trump sycophant Sidney Powell. The trio urged Trump to make Powell special counsel to investigate voting machines in key counties across the country.

Byrne has personally contributed $500,000 to the Arizona audit and a group he operates has raised additional funds. The disgraced businessman, who resigned from Overstock after he had a romance with a Russian agent seeking to penetrate U.S. politics, also produced a film that alleges massive fraud in the 2020 election. Among those interviewed for the film was Doug Logan. Logan is the head of Cyber Ninjas, the inexperienced firm conducting the audit.

New tonight: Here’s who Cyber Ninjas says is paying for the audit.

Stop the Steal groups – including Patrick Byrne, OAN’s Christina Bobb, Sidney Powell, Attorney Matt DePerno – have contributed $5.7 million, according to Ninjas pic.twitter.com/v0x8lOqWwa
— Jen Fifield (@JenAFifield) July 29, 2021

A group led by One America News Network personality Christina Bobb has raised $650,000 for Logan’s highly compromised spectacle. Bobb openly fundraises during OAN appearances, a massive violation of journalism standards. OAN exclusively operates the cameras that provide oversight into the auditors’ activities.

Trump’s PAC has used conspiracy theories about election fraud as a fundraising vehicle. He’s amassed $75 million thanks to those efforts, but has contributed zero to the Arizona audit.