An observer watches as contractors working for Cyber Ninjas, who was hired by the Arizona State Senate, examine and recount ballots from the 2020 general election at Veterans Memorial Coliseum on May 8, 2021 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Courtney Pedroza | The Washington Post | Getty Images
Cyber Ninjas, the private firm leading a partisan and much-criticized audit of millions of ballots cast in Arizona during the 2020 election, has refused to comply with a congressional probe into the company, House Democrats said.
In a letter dated Sunday to Cyber Ninjas CEO Douglas Logan, the Democrats said they “will be forced to consider other steps to obtain compliance” if the company “continues to obstruct” their investigation.
That warning came as the Florida-based firm, which lacked prior election auditing experience and whose owner had tweeted support for pro-Trump election conspiracies, was set to deliver a report on its findings to the Arizona Republicans who commissioned it. Several pro-Trump dark money groups raised millions of dollars to fund the audit.
Democrats, including Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, have decried the Senate Republicans for embracing false conspiracy theories about a rigged election, which former President Donald Trump spread frequently before and after his loss to President Joe Biden.
But election experts have also said the results of the audit should not be trusted, citing an array of concerns about the methods and motivations of the investigators.
In mid-July, House Oversight Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and civil rights subcommittee Chairman Jamie Raskin, D-Md., told Logan they sought records as part of a review into whether his company’s actions are intended to “reverse the result of a free and fair election for partisan gain.”
They asked for those documents, which included information about who is paying for the effort, by July 28.
But after receiving an extension to file the materials by Aug. 9, Cyber Ninjas “sent a letter objecting to all nine of the Committee’s requests,” Maloney and Raskin said in Monday’s letter.
“Cyber Ninjas failed to produce key documents responsive to the Committee’s requests,” they said, including its communications with Trump, the Arizona state Senate and “the partisan dark money groups that financed this audit.”
A contractor working for Cyber Ninjas, who was hired by the Arizona State Senate transports ballots from the 2020 general election at Veterans Memorial Coliseum on May 1, 2021 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Courtney Pedroza | Getty Images
The company objected on the grounds that the lawmakers’ requests were “vague,” “poorly-defined” or “overburdensome.” But the Democrats said none of those objections provided “a legitimate justification to obstruct the Committee’s inquiry.”
Maloney and Raskin also responded to Cyber Ninjas’ repeated assertions that the documents are protected by attorney-client privilege, calling those claims “patently invalid” and “based on a fundamental misunderstanding of Congress’s authorities.”
Cyber Ninjas did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the letter.
County officials in Arizona who conducted audits in the days after the Nov. 3 election found no discrepancies or irregularities in numerous counties.
But in March, Republicans in the Arizona Senate hired Cyber Ninjas and two other firms to conduct their own audit of the 2.1 million votes cast in Maricopa County, claiming the additional analysis would “validate every area of the voting process to ensure the integrity of the vote.”
Biden beat Trump by more than 45,000 votes in Maricopa, the most populous county in the state. Biden beat Trump in the state overall by around 10,000 votes.
The Democrats told Logan they would grant Cyber Ninjas one additional extension, giving them until Aug. 27 to voluntarily share the requested documents.
“If your company, which purports to be acting in a lawful manner pursuing the public interest, continues to obstruct the Committee’s investigation, the Committee will be forced to consider other steps to obtain compliance,” the letter said.
