U.S. House Oversight Committee Issues New Deadline For Audit Records

Published: Monday, August 23, 2021 - 5:08pm
Updated: Tuesday, August 24, 2021 - 10:02am

Top Democrats serving on the U.S. House Oversight Committee gave the firm leading a review of the 2020 election results in Maricopa County until the end of the week to turn over records.

Reps. Carolyn Malony of New York and Jamie Raskin of Maryland first sent a letter to Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan in July, requesting information about his company’s role in the review and recount of nearly 2.1 million ballots cast last November.

In their latest letter, sent Sunday, the committee leaders noted they’ve already extended their original July 28 deadline for Logan to respond, only to receive a letter from Cyber Ninjas’ attorneys claiming Congress had no right to demand records from the company.

And they reasserted Congress’ right to access key documents, including any correspondence with former President Trump and his allies, as well as communications with “Stop The Steal” affiliated nonprofits who are largely financing the election review. They want those records by Aug. 27.

“The Committee needs those and other documents we requested in order to determine whether any individuals or entities have exerted inappropriate influence over the audit and to determine the extent to which partisanship and conspiracy theories compromised the credibility of this audit,” Malony and Raskin wrote.

Evidence of Logan’s bias has been a cause for concern and criticism since Senate President Karen Fann announced she’d hired Cyber Ninjas to conduct the partisan election review. Critics warn the Florida-based cybersecurity firm is unqualified to review the election and point to past statements by Logan spreading conspiracies of election fraud. Logan also appeared in a conspiracy-laden film that claims to show the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump while conducting the state Senate’s election review.

Senate Republicans, meanwhile, have sought to keep records maintained by Cyber Ninjas a secret. 

American Oversight, a nonpartisan watchdog group, sued to obtain those records, arguing the Senate has an obligation under public records laws to disclose even the documents in Cyber Ninjas’ possession. A trial court judge and an appellate court panel have rejected arguments by the Senate’s attorneys that those records are exempt from public disclosure.

Fann has appealed those ruling to the Arizona Supreme Court.

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