Established Fact
[Established Fact – As to pre-emptive labeling without independent evidence review] The Arizona source record documents that official state actors and media outlets characterized election integrity analyses – including findings from the Cyber Ninjas forensic audit, the Speckin forensic handwriting and ballot analysis, and the Pulitzer PKAD cybersecurity report – as “misinformation” or “disinformation” before any independent expert review of the underlying evidence was conducted or completed. This pre-emptive labeling is constitutionally and legally distinct from a post-review finding that specific claims were false. It represents government and quasi-governmental actors declaring, based on the political valence of the claims rather than their factual content, that legitimate forensic and documentary evidence was false. When an official agency labels contested audit findings “disinformation” without having independently reviewed the same evidence, and that labeling triggers or encourages platform suppression, the conduct may constitute an attempt to obstruct legitimate legislative inquiry – the Arizona Senate’s subpoena-backed forensic audit – by preemptively delegitimizing its findings. A.R.S. § 13-2402 (obstructing governmental operations) is implicated when official action impedes a lawful legislative function.
Citations
Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, June 2, 2021 Audit Observation Report, documenting alleged audit infractions during the ongoing audit. Referenced and corroborated by Arizona Auditor General Report No. 22-301, p. [see Report]; available at https://www.azauditor.gov/sites/default/files/2023-11/22-301_Report.pdf
Arizona Auditor General, Performance Audit, Report No. 22-301 (March 2022): “The [Secretary of State’s] office spent $4.5 million, or 88 percent, of private, nongovernmental grant monies it received to combat misinformation and disinformation about 2020 elections.” Funding period: June 2020–June 2021. Available at https://www.azauditor.gov/sites/default/files/2023-11/22-301_Report.pdf
Gowri Ramachandran, Brennan Center for Justice, Written Testimony, U.S. House of Representatives Committee on House Administration, “Protecting Elections from Domestic and International Interference” hearing, July 28, 2021. Witness characterized the ongoing Arizona audit as a “disinformation campaign.” Available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA00/20210728/113971/HHRG-117-HA00-Wstate-RamachandranG-20210728.pdf
Cody Speckin, Speckin Forensic Laboratories, “Forensic Analysis of Paper Ballots in Maricopa County, Arizona,” September 20, 2021. Executive Summary: “identified over 23,000 ballots that were printed from an unidentified printing source other than directly from the PDF for the official election ballot.” Report further noted 61 batches of approximately 200 ballots showing 90%+ support for one candidate (58 favoring Biden, 3 favoring Trump). Report explicitly states the review is “ongoing” and does not conclude fraud. Available at https://www.scribd.com/document/557578081/Speckin-Report-Forensic-Analysis-of-Paper-Ballots-in-Maricopa-County-Arizona-Sep-2021.
Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, public statement, September 24, 2021 (day of Senate audit final report release): “[P]artisan political theatrics culminating [in] a report reinforces what experts have consistently asserted — that this endeavor was a sham.” Statement issued contemporaneously with publication of the final report, before independent expert review of the newly released forensic findings.