26th Attorney General of Arizona
from 2015 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party,
he was an unsuccessful candidate for its nomination
in the 2022 U.S. Senate election. Above: Mark
Brnovich and his nun-chuks.
When he
speaks,
he says,
“At the
end of
the day
…” as a
kind of
filler,
over and
over, as
if he
needs a
moment
to think
of what
he’ll
say
next.
After
about 10
of these
“end of
the day”
segues
in an
April
2021
interview
with the
conservative
Newsmax
channel,
Brnovich
said it
was
important
to
respect
the
Arizona
Senate’s
highly
partisan
review
of
votes, a
process
many in
the
state
called
“The
Fraudit”
or
“clown
show.”
Why?
“So we
make
sure we
do
everything
we can
to
ensure
the
integrity
of the
(2020
election)
results,
because
we want
people
to have
confidence
in the
results.”
At the
end of
the day,
that was
a crock.
Mark
Brnovich
sat on
his
office's
reports
Today we
know
that
then-Attorney
General
Mark
Brnovich
would
eventually
bury and
distort
a
detailed
investigation
that
would
have
vindicated
the
people
who ran
the 2020
Maricopa
County
presidential
election
and
helped
restore
trust in
our
democracy.
His own
investigators
had
spent
more
than
10,000
hours
examining
some 430
reports
of
election
fraud
and
suspected
malfeasance.
They
debunked
virtually
all of
them,
but no
one told
the
people
of
Arizona.
At the
end of
the day,
Mark
Brnovich
sat on
the
results.
In March
2022,
his
investigators
prepared
their
report
and
their
boss
smothered
it.
Then in
April
2022 he
released
his own
“interim
report”
pointing
to
“serious
vulnerabilities”
in the
electoral
system
and
ignoring
the
pre-publication
edits
suggested
by his
investigators,
who were
inclined
to tell
the
truth.
In
September
2022,
his team
produced
an
“Election
Review
Summary”
that
again
defended
the
integrity
of the
election.
And
again,
Brnovich
sat on
it.
He
valued
his
election
more
than the
truth
Last
week,
new
Attorney
General
Kris
Mayes
revealed
Brnovich’s
investigative
shell
game and
asserted
it was
not only
a
betrayal
of the
people
of
Arizona
and his
office,
but a
colossal
waste of
time.
“The
results
of this
exhaustive
and
extensive
investigation
show
what we
have
suspected
for over
two
years –
the 2020
election
in
Arizona
was
conducted
fairly
and
accurately
by
elections
officials,”
Mayes
said.
“The
10,000-plus
hours
spent
diligently
investigating
every
conspiracy
theory
under
the sun
distracted
this
office
from its
core
mission
of
protecting
the
people
of
Arizona
from
real
crime
and
fraud.”
County
election
workers
and
officials
were
enduring
smears
and
death
threats
from
extremists
who
believed
every
conspiracy
theory
spun by
their
defeated
president,
Donald
Trump.
But none
of that
moved
Brnovich
to put
out the
truth,
that the
election
in
Maricopa
County
was
honest.
At the
time,
Brnovich
was
running
for U.S.
Senate
and
needed
those
Trump
voters
to win
the
Republican
primary.
But
Trump
would
ultimately
reject
and
berate
him and
give his
endorsement
to
upstart
Blake
Masters.
The
then-Arizona
attorney
general
was
playing
both
sides
against
the
middle,
asserting
to
general
audiences
that
Trump
had lost
the 2020
election,
while
intimating
to
conservative
audiences
that
Trump
got
robbed.
"Arizona Governor
Katie Hobbs is
asking the State Bar
to investigate
former Attorney
General Mark
Brnovich. The move
follows reports that
Brnovich concealed
records that could
have debunked claims
about widespread
election fraud. In a
letter sent to the
state bar on Friday,
an attorney for
Hobbs accused
Brnovich of
“unethical conduct”
that threatened “our
democracy, our
state, and the legal
profession itself.”
According to
reports, numerous
ethics complaints
have now been filed
this week against
Brnovich for his
handling of the 2020
elections. The State
Bar of Arizona has
confirmed there are
currently eight
complaints filed
against the former
attorney general."
"Nearly a year after
the 2020 election,
Arizona’s
then-attorney
general Mark
Brnovich launched an
investigation into
voting in the
state’s largest
county that quickly
consumed more than
10,000 hours of his
staff’s time.
Investigators
prepared a report in
March 2022 stating
that virtually all
claims of error and
malfeasance were
unfounded, according
to internal
documents reviewed
by The Washington
Post. Brnovich, a
Republican, kept it
private. In April,
the attorney general
— who was running in
the GOP primary for
a U.S. Senate seat —
released an “Interim
Report” claiming
that his office had
discovered “serious
vulnerabilities.” He
left out edits from
his own
investigators
refuting his
assertions. His
office then compiled
an “Election Review
Summary” in
September that
systematically
refuted accusations
of widespread fraud
and made clear that
none of the
complaining parties
— from state
lawmakers to
self-styled
“election integrity”
groups — had
presented any
evidence to support
their claims.
Brnovich left office
last month without
releasing the
summary." [...] "The
records show how
Brnovich used his
office to further
claims about voting
in Maricopa County
that his own staff
considered
inaccurate. They
suggest that his
administration
privately
disregarded
fact-checks provided
by state
investigators while
publicly promoting
incomplete accounts
of the office’s
work. The innuendo
and inaccuracies,
circulated not just
in the far reaches
of the internet but
with the imprimatur
of the state’s
attorney general,
helped make Arizona
an epicenter of
distrust in the
democratic process,
eroding confidence
not just in the 2020
vote but in
subsequent
elections."
Feb. 22, 2023
Center
for
Arizona
Policy
2022
Candidate
Questionnaire
Position Sought:
U.S.
Senate
Question
4: Adding “sexual orientation,” “gender identity,” and “gender expression” to the protected classes of race, religion, age, sex, and ancestry in nondiscrimination law.
Candidates'
Position: Oppose.
Question
9: Protecting individuals and businesses from being required to provide services or use their artistic expression in a manner that violates their moral or religious beliefs.*
Attorney General
Mark Brnovich has
once again shown us
why he has
absolutely no
business being
Arizona’s attorney
general.
It’s bad enough that
the guy has turned
the
Attorney General’s
Office into a tool
in his bid to land a
seat in the U.S.
Senate.
Now he has.
Specifically, to
defend the state of
Arizona against a
lawsuit that seeks
to end the state’s
wildly popular early
voting program.
Think about that.
The state’s lawyer
is refusing to
represent the state.
Refusing to defend a
31-year-old early
voting program used
by nearly 90% of
voters in 2020.
GOP is suing Arizona
to end early voting
The Arizona
Republican Party and
party Chairwoman
Kelli Ward sued the
state earlier this
month, hoping to put
an end to early
voting before this
year’s general
election. (This,
after unsuccessfully
trying to and get
the all-Republican
Arizona Supreme
Court to buy into
the scheme.)
Funny, the party
never complained
during the three
decades that
Republicans
dominated early
voting.
In fact, Republicans
liked the program so
well that in 2007,
the GOP-run
Legislature actually
made it easier to
vote early
by allowing voters
to sign up to
automatically get an
early ballot in the
mail.
In 2020, it
backfired on them,
as Democrats turned
out in record
numbers to vote
early and, well, you
know the result.
Now, suddenly, the
state’s long-lauded
early voting program
is apparently a
hotbed of fraud and
corruption.
The party has gone
all the way to ruby
red Mohave County in
search of a superior
court judge who will
declare early voting
unconstitutional.
Brnovich's job is to
defend state law,
but he won't
. . .
The
Maricopa
County
Board of
Supervisors
issued a
blistering
and at
times
personal
critique
of
Attorney
General
Mark
Brnovich's
preliminary
findings
of
"serious
vulnerabilities"
in how
Maricopa
County
ran the
2020
election,
saying
it was
imperative
to
correct
a record
that
Brnovich
severely
distorted.
"One
cannot
play
politics
with the
instruments
of the
law. One
cannot
play
politics
with
prosecutorial
power," the
supervisors
wrote in
a
nine-page
letter
delivered
to the
attorney
general.
"Given
the
oaths
you took
as both
a lawyer
and
elected
official,
we were
shocked"
by the
interim
report,
they
added.
County
Recorder
Stephen
Richer,
who
signed
on to
the
letter,
said in
remarks
to the
board
that the
interim
report
Brnovich
delivered
a month
ago to
Senate
President
Karen
Fann was
riddled
with
errors
and
omissions, and
perpetuates
the "Big
Lie"
that the
2020
election
was
stolen.
"In Arizona, defending
consumers from scams and rip-offs falls to
the office of Arizona’s Attorney General
Mark Brnovich. Arizona’s Family
investigators poured through years of budget
records for the Attorney General’s office.
The investigation found that Brnovich’s
office has increasingly diverted funds
earmarked for consumer protection to pay for
legal battles that have nothing to do with
consumer fraud."
"Former
Arizona
National
Guard
leader
Michael
"Mick"
McGuire
is
calling
on state
Attorney
General
Mark
Brnovich,
his U.S.
Senate
campaign
rival, to
make
public
records
tied to
an
investigation
of
Brnovich and
his
attorneys
stemming
from a
State
Bar of
Arizona
investigation.
“The
public
has a
right to
know,
one,
about
the
specific
ethical
violations,
two,
what
were the
findings
of the
investigation
and
three,
what
diversion
or
rehabilitation
training
has been
accepted,”
McGuire,
a
retired
Air
Force
major
general,
said
Monday.
Brnovich’s
office
cast the
resolutions
as a
“victory”
on
Friday.
A
spokesperson
for the
office
did not
immediately
respond
to The
Arizona
Republic’s
request
for
comment.
A
spokesperson
for the
State
Bar said
in an
email
Monday
the
matter
“has
concluded”
and
there
are no
publicly
available
records."
"It's easy to run
for office when
you're already in
office … We're
getting the
legislative band
back together … And
he's attempting a
Hulk Hogan
impression. Arizona
Attorney General
Mark Brnovich seems
to grab daily
headlines lately.
We’re sure it’s just
a coincidence for
the AG who’s running
for U.S. Senate."
[...] "his allies
in the Arizona
Legislature filed a
bill to help him out
with the State Bar
of Arizona
complaints he’s
facing from
Secretary of State
Katie Hobbs and the
Arizona Board of
Regents, Capitol
Media Services’
Howie Fischer
reports. Sen. Vince
Leach’s Senate Bill
1566 would install
penalties for people
who make Bar
complaints that
don’t result in
discipline."
"Anyone waiting breathlessly
for Attorney General Mark
Brnovich to launch an
investigation into the fake
Trump electors who
participated in a scheme to
overturn Arizona’s vote
should wait no longer.
Brnovich’s latest
fundraising plea makes it
abundantly clear that he has
no intention of actually
doing his day job.
Being
the state’s attorney
general, that is.
“Are
you really going to IGNORE
President Trump? We thought
he could count on you,”
Brnovich says, in an
fundraiser making the rounds
to Republicans on Facebook.
“This is your LAST CHANCE to
help FLIP AZ and TAKE BACK
THE SENATE.”
Attached is a picture of
Trump and Brnovich mugging
for the camera, along with
this warning:
“DON’T MISS YOUR CHANCE TO
BE ON TRUMP’S TEAM!”
[...]
"Brnovich is in a crowded
Republican race for the
Senate, a race in which
every candidate is competing
to be anointed by Trump for
the job.
He’s
under pressure to start
arresting people as a result
of a Senate election audit
that found no evidence of
fraud.
Meanwhile, he should be
investigating state
Republican Party Chairwoman
Kelli Ward, fellow Senate
candidate Jim Lamon and the
other phony Trump electors
who in December 2020 signed
a document avowing that they
represented the true
electoral votes from
Arizona. Then they sent it
by registered mail to the
U.S. Sente and the National
Archives.
Fortunately, federal
prosecutors are now looking
into it, but shouldn’t the
state’s prosecutor have at
least a passing interest in
such a blatant scheme
carried out right under his
own nose?"
"Arizona Attorney
General Mark Brnovich is no longer attorney
general. By his actions, anyway. For
example, he is choosing not investigate the
fake presidential electors from Arizona who
fraudulently claimed they were valid
electors, hoping to subvert the
constitutional work of the Electoral College
and overturn the outcome of a duly certified
election. Why? Because he is running for the
U.S. Senate. And while Brnovich ignores
traitors, he indulges the whims of
Republicans in the state Legislature by
having his office investigate what we know
to be completely debunked election fraud.
Why? Because he is running for U.S. Senate."
"A
bitter behind-the scenes
battle between Secretary of
State Katie Hobbs and
Attorney General Mark
Brnovich could change
election laws in Arizona.
Hobbs filed sweeping ethics
complaints to the State Bar
of Arizona in 2020 accusing
Brnovich and several of his
top attorneys of sabotaging
election-related cases and
misrepresenting her office.
More than 14 months later,
the agency responsible for
licensing and regulating
attorneys is still asking
questions and seeking
records. The allegations of
misconduct include conflicts
of interest, improperly
using confidential
information and publicly
maligning election
officials."
"Arizona Attorney General Mark
Brnovich asked a reporter if they had an STD rather
than answer if he has received the COVID vaccine at
a news conference with leaders of Phoenix police and
firefighter unions. A reporter asked Brnovich, a
Republican who is running for U.S. Senate, the
question when his press secretary called the
question "inappropriate." Brnovich then waved her
off and asked the reporter, "Have you had an STD?""
Attorney General Mark
Brnovich, who is also a Republican candidate for the
U.S. Senate, appeared to cast doubt on COVID-19
vaccines in an audio recording obtained by Arizona's
Family."If you can get COVID after you've had the
vaccine and you can still spread it, then what's the
point of the vaccine," Brnovich told a packed room
of Republicans last week.
"Brnovich recently threatened
to gut $676 million in state funding for Maricopa
County unless they turn over their residents’
private information – including social security
numbers – to the untrustworthy Cyber Ninjas for the
“audit.”"
"Arizona Attorney
General Mark Brnovich seems to have decided
that the best use of his office is not to
serve as the chief law enforcement agency in
the state but as his U.S. Senate campaign
launching pad."
Arizona’s attorney general early on
dismissed the various conspiracy theories
surrounding Joe Biden’s win in Arizona. Now,
he’s running for the Senate but his support
of the audit has been tepid, at best. Donald
Trump has noticed.
“He (Brnovich) is always on television
promoting himself, but never mentions the
Crime of the Century, that took place during
the 2020 Presidential Election, which was
Rigged and Stolen,” Trump complained in late
May. “Arizona was a big part and Brnovich
must put himself in gear, or no Arizona
Republican will vote for him in the upcoming
elections. They will never forget, and
neither will the great Patriots of our
Nation!”
Brnovich has since chased Trump’s approval
by sending a strongly worded letter to
Attorney General Merrick Garland, warning
the Department of Justice to stay out of
Arizona’s audit. But it’s dicey to think
Trump will consider that sufficient to
battle “the Crime of the Century”.
Brnovich may be the Republicans’ best shot
at unseating Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, but
first he’s got to get out of a Republican
primary.
"Arizona Attorney
General Mark Brnovich, the one that tried to
take your health insurance away until the
United States Supreme Court stopped him
yesterday, is trying to make nice with the
Trump Zone Cult base after he would not
subscribe to their world view about the
November 2020 Presidential election. [...]
In trying to get on their good side again,
the aspiring 2020 Republican Senate
Candidate wrote a letter to Attorney General
Merrick Garland, in his best attempt to
sound like the child of Wendy Rogers and
Mark Finchem, demanding that the Justice
Department refrain from investigating the
Maricopa County Sham Audit."
“Please let the good
people of Arizona know about how their
taxpayer dollars are being put to work by
the attorney general for yet another failed
lawsuit,” wrote ASU spokeswoman Katie Paquet"
Question
9: Arizona’s voter-approved constitutional definition of marriage should be defended to the fullest extent legally possible.
Candidates'
Position: Support
Question
11: Adding “sexual orientation,” “gender identity,” or “gender expression” to the protected classes of race, religion, age, sex, and ancestry in antidiscrimination law.
Candidates'
Position: Oppose
Question
15: Protecting individuals and businesses from being required to provide services or use their artistic expression in a manner that violates their moral or religious beliefs.*
"Mark Brnovich, AKA
the NOT Tom Horne Republican candidate for
AZ Attorney General is a Goldwater Institute
and Tea Party guy who filed to run against
Tom Horne over a year ago as a protest
candidate back when no one thought Horne,
with all his money, was vulnerable in a
primary. Republicans knew that Horne would
have a lot of baggage going up against
Felecia Rotellini again but didn’t bother to
recruit a less ragingly right wing back-up
candidate just in case, you know, more
damning revelations came out about Horne.
Oops. Now, NOT Tom Horne’s supporters are
working furiously to portray him as a
mainstream guy who is totally not Tea
Party."
