Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) is seeking an ethics review into former state Attorney General Mark Brnovich amid allegations he buried findings from his office’s investigation into the 2020 election that showed there was no evidence of widespread fraud or misconduct.
In a letter sent to the Arizona State Board on Thursday, Hobbs requested state officials to investigate Brnovich, accusing him of “likely unethical conduct.” The request comes after it was reported earlier this week that Brnovich had withheld findings from his office’s investigation that showed there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud affecting the outcome of the 2020 election.
“This conduct — which is harmful to our democracy, our State, and legal profession itself — appears to have coincided with the time in which Mr. Brnovich and other attorneys in his Office were actively negotiating and then participating in a diversion agreement with the State Bar,” Hobbs wrote. “I urge the State Bar to carefully review … and take any appropriate action.”
Brnovich pushed back against Hobbs’s request, dismissing the allegations as irrelevant.
“Katie Hobbs is wrong,” Brnovich told the Washington Examiner in a statement. “This is another misguided attempt by her to defame and cancel a political opponent instead of addressing the serious issues facing our state.”
Almost a year after the 2020 election, Brnovich and his staff launched an investigation into Maricopa County’s election administration amid claims it was riddled with fraud that led to former President Donald Trump’s loss. After more than 10,000 hours of work, investigators concluded that virtually all those claims were unfounded — but Brnovich declined to release that information to the public, according to internal documents obtained by the Washington Post.
Investigators prepared a final report in March 2022 that found all claims of error were unsubstantiated, according to the documents. One month later, Brnovich, who was running for a Senate seat in Arizona at the time, released an “Interim Report” of the investigation that indicated his office discovered “serious vulnerabilities” with the 2020 election.
However, that version did not include edits from his investigators that disputed claims of election fraud, according to the outlet.
Brnovich’s office later compiled a final “Election Review Summary” in September that rejected claims of widespread voter fraud, citing that no group had evidence to back their allegations, according to the internal documents. The former attorney general never released the summary before leaving office last month.
The previously unreported details were revealed in documents that were given to the Washington Post by Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes, who was elected as Brnovich’s successor in November.
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Brnovich denied allegations that he intentionally withheld his office’s investigative findings, citing policies that advise his team not to publish information about ongoing inquiries. Brnovich’s investigation was never fully completed before he left office, as the former attorney general handed it to Mayes once she was sworn in. Mayes later closed that investigation upon taking office, according to the Washington Post.
“I am proud of the work our office did with the election integrity unit that was created by the state legislature,” Brnovich told the Washington Examiner earlier this week. “While subjected to severe criticism from all sides of the political spectrum during the course of our investigations, we did our due diligence to run all complaints to the ground. Where we were able to debunk rumors and conspiracies, we did so. Nevertheless, we also identified areas we believe the legislature and county officials should address to ensure confidence in future elections.”
