Host Stephen K. Bannon welcomed The Star News Network’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief of The Arizona Sun-Times, Michael Patrick Leahy, on Thursday’s WarRoom: Battleground to highlight aspects of the ongoing election integrity lawsuit put forth by Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and the alleged Maricopa County ballot harvesting.
Bannon: Michael, you’ve got a piece up at The Arizona Sun Times. Walk me through The Arizona Sun Times’ assessment of the situation, sir.
Leahy: Our reporter there in Phoenix, Neil Jones, did a really great job outlining what happened on the day. Remember, Steve, this is a truncated two-day trial. It’s very, very narrow. And there are two complaints that must be addressed.
Wrongdoing must be proven that there were illegal tabulator problems with the printers on Election Day and that the critical chain of custody documents do not exist. After that wrongdoing is established, however, the Kari Lake team must demonstrate to the judge that it altered the outcome of the election. I think I have a little more mixed review than Floyd on this.
Remember, the Lake team brought six witnesses. They used up four and a half hours of their five hours in this truncated trial. I will know that Stephen Richer didn’t even bother to show up in person. He was there via Skype and he, I thought, showed disrespect and others did for the court by showing up in a t-shirt. The judge didn’t seem to mind that. But…
Bannon: Hold on, hang on. Yo, yo, yo. He did that on purpose. He’s on vacation somewhere, I think either in Panama City, Florida, or he’s in Panama. But he’s sitting there. It looks like he just came off the beach from surfing. He’s got a t-shirt, and he’s very flippant in his answers.
It’s to show he has no respect for the people of Arizona. Obviously no respect for Kari Lake and no respect for the process, but he had no respect for the judge. And I think the judge was pretty even-handed, but the judge accepted it.
I thought everybody had to stand and deliver in the courtroom. I didn’t know we were going to beam guys in. And he showed he had no respect for the process.
Floyd Brown and Steve Bannon and Michael Patrick Leahy, and they all get worked up as all they want, but hey, screw you, I’m coming off, and can we pick it up because I got get back out. It’s going to be good surfing this morning, and I want to get back out there.
Leahy: Steve, the best witness was Heather Honey, who did a wonderful job establishing that a chain of custody did not exist on Election Day. Today the defendants are going to try to make the claim that there are sites. They haven’t presented any of that evidence yet.
And there was this back and forth between Tom Liddy, the attorney for Maricopa County, where he was trying to establish that it was legal to ballot harvest by inserting ballots, vote by mail ballots into the stream without any authentication.
And she corrected him on a point of law (scoffs) and said that they would be called invalid ballots in that case. And he just stopped his questioning. That was a real highlight for her.
Bannon: Michael Patrick Leahy, do you think that they were able to show yesterday that they actually violated Arizona statute about the processes on the record with statutes for running the elections, sir?
Leahy: I think they did a good job of presenting doubt on that. Today is going to be the key. The defendants representing Maricopa County and the Secretary of State Hobbs have promised they’re going to show that they have the receipts for the 298,000 chain of custody documents on the vote by mail on Election Day. I’m skeptical they’ll produce it.
If they don’t produce it, then I think Kari Lake’s team will have to drive home the point today in closing arguments that that failure to produce those critical chain of custody documents was sufficient to change and alter the outcome of the election. That’s the key to look for today.
Bannon: Leahy, how do people follow The Arizona Sun Times and your overall news network, The Star News Network, and yourself, sir? How do they do that?
Leahy: TheArizonaSunTimes.com, TheStarNewsNetwork.com, and of course our flagship TennesseeStar.com. You can reach me on Twitter and GETTR at Michaelpleahy.
Bannon: Leahy, thank you very much. I know you want to go back to your holiday.
Leahy: Thank you.
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