Earlier this year, Republican legislators in Arizona forced a partisan "audit" of Maricopa County's ballots in the 2020 election, giving further credence to former President Donald Trump's lies that the 2020 election was "stolen" from him by Democrats engaging in widespread election fraud.
For months, the so-called audit was marred by conspiracy theories and shady behavior. The firm overseeing the audit, Cyber Ninjas, had never worked on an election before and had expressed support for Trump's election delusions in the past. One of the audit's workers claimed they were searching for bamboo fibers in ballots, based on fantasies that fake ballots were somehow flown in from Asia.
The audit was funded by conservatives and at least one participant in the deadly January 6 insurrection was seen counting ballots.
After months of delays, the audit's report was finally released, further reinforcing now-President Biden's 2020 win in the county—ten months after he won it the first time.
Now, a Republican former Attorney General for Arizona, Grant Woods, is calling the audit a "grift."
Watch below.
'It's a grift': Former Republican Arizona AG blows the lid off the Cyber Ninjas 'audit' scamwww.youtube.com
In an interview with CNN, Woods said of the audit:
"They're in it for the money. It is a grift. There's a lot of grifters we have been exposed to. I was attorney general for years. I dealt with grifters every day. This is how they act."
Others agreed with the former Attorney General's assessment.
Yup! 100%. Now admit… You lost! And move on… https://t.co/log2xZVzZI— Vaccinated… Jon Brooks (@Vaccinated… Jon Brooks) 1632744488.0
Nobody won except the Cyber Ninjas CEO. And Joe Biden. 🤣 https://t.co/lAI1r3GUj1— Darcy (@Darcy) 1632747039.0
@TeaPainUSA Biggest Grift in American history continues...— Notsobad (@Notsobad) 1632511623.0
@TeaPainUSA Exactly. Trump saw American politics for exactly what they’ve become. A money game, a grift. He just played it as he saw it.— Mark Fearing (@Mark Fearing) 1632512220.0
@TeaPainUSA Republicans seem particularly vulnerable to grifters of all forms.— MrMark (@MrMark) 1632510930.0
@TeaPainUSA Uh, @GrantWoods, you're a rare breed and I hope the Dems will put you on the protected endangered list.— Pravoye Krylo Nakhodyatsya Predateli (@Pravoye Krylo Nakhodyatsya Predateli) 1632511502.0
People weren't surprised at the sham.
"It's a GRIFT". You don't say. https://t.co/lQ2TZigsS2— Michelle Jones (@Michelle Jones) 1632515707.0
in more “ we’ll, duh!” news... “It is a grift. There’s a lot of grifters we have been exposed to. I was attorney ge… https://t.co/JlWYdfLxLc— Gwyn- Inmeasententia: "With all due respect..." (@Gwyn- Inmeasententia: "With all due respect...") 1632754198.0
@HuffPostPol You don’t say! 🙄— Suparna (@Suparna) 1632617522.0
Nevertheless, similar audits are already emerging in other Republican-led swing states.