2020年后的六个多月选举，前总统的几名成员唐纳德·特朗普的圈内人士正投入数百万美元，再次挑战选举结果，这一努力在亚利桑那州获得了新的生命，因为它吸引了前总统和他的许多追随者。
2020年选举结束后，特朗普的忠实者们在一系列毫无根据的阴谋的推动下，一次又一次地在法庭上推翻选举结果，这些阴谋涉及驳斥广泛的选民欺诈指控。虽然这一努力产生了几十个不成功的诉讼许多特朗普的支持者——从前Overstock.com首席执行官到特朗普的长期盟友史蒂夫·班农——再次成为推动共和党支持的特朗普的关键力量亚利桑那州审计2020年选举结果。
此前的两次审计没有发现足以使乔·拜登总统在亚利桑那州和马里科帕县的胜利无效的欺诈证据，此次审计不仅引起了马加运动的关注，也引起了特朗普本人的关注，特朗普本人一直在继续提出虚假索赔2020年的选举被偷了。据知情人士透露，特朗普一再发布电子邮件声明，鼓励审计，而在幕后，他一直定期打电话向有关人员了解最新情况，包括亚利桑那州共和党主席凯利·沃德(Kelli Ward)。
根据网上发布的一段视频，特朗普4月下旬在马拉加拉戈度假胜地发表讲话时说:“亚利桑那州正在发生一些非常有趣的事情。”。这位前总统甚至向一个日益增长的右翼阴谋脱帽致敬，该阴谋表明亚利桑那州的审计可能是使他重返白宫的一系列事件中的第一个多米诺骨牌。
泰·奥尼尔/SOPA影像公司/摄影爱好者
在内华达州的一次示威中，一名抗议者举着一张标语牌，上面写着“停止偷窃”
“如果他们找到成千上万的选票，我不会感到惊讶，”特朗普说。“之后我们会看宾夕法尼亚，你会看佐治亚，然后你会看密歇根和威斯康辛，你会看新罕布什尔。”
“这是一次被操纵的选举，每个人都知道，我们将密切关注它，”他说。
马里科帕县民主党(Maricopa County Democratic Party)2020年选举前主席史蒂文斯拉格奇(Steven Slugocki)表示，审计已成为那些寻求筹集资金和提高前总统忠诚基础参与度的人的沃土。
“有些人在这方面赚了很多钱——不幸的是，这是以我们的选举为代价的，”他告诉美国广播公司新闻。“他们不再有唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)在社交媒体上领导他们，他们在寻找内容，他们在寻找方法让那些认为这次选举是偷来的人参与进来，他们正在从中筹集资金。”
“它已经变成了一个比任何人想象的都更大的马戏团，”斯拉格奇说。
虽然亚利桑那州的审计部分资金来自纳税人的钱，但亚利桑那州参议院为此拨款15万美元，也有私人捐款资助，其中一些来自那些推动毫无根据的选举欺诈阴谋的人，这些阴谋为2010年的选举奠定了基础。攻占国会大厦1月6日。
资助审计
前Overstock.com首席执行官帕特里克·伯恩(Patrick Byrne)在2020年大选后成为推动毫无根据的选举欺诈指控的关键人物，他是亚利桑那州审计背后的主要筹资力量之一，推出了一个旨在筹集280万美元的网站。
伯恩此前曾表示，他一直在资助自己的“黑客、网络侦探和其他具有奇怪技能的人”团队搜索选民欺诈。根据他的新非营利组织美国项目(The America Project)创建的网站，他迄今已筹集了150多万美元来支持审计。这位前首席执行官还声称，他已经捐赠了至少50万美元自己的钱来资助审计。
在5月初的一个在线视频流中，据报道在选举后在椭圆形办公室会见了特朗普的伯恩将他过去六个月为重新计票工作提供资金的努力比作为一家初创企业提供种子资金——在这种情况下，“亚利桑那州、密歇根州和佛罗里达州的一群组织者”。
艾米·哈里斯/舒特斯托克，档案
2021年4月24日，帕特里克·伯恩在佛罗里达州布雷登顿的一家商场参加“拯救美国爱国者集会”。
“我们是天使般的金钱，放火，做真正不为人知的事情，”伯恩说，并补充道，“这些东西开始燃烧，变得有生命了。”
伯恩没有回应美国广播公司新闻的置评请求。
支持特朗普的极右翼律师林·伍德(Lin Wood)最近呼吁前副总统迈克·彭斯在证明2020年大选的问题上面对“行刑队”，他还通过捐赠自己声称的5万美元资金来加强亚利桑那州的审计工作。伍德对2020年选民欺诈的指控很快使他在MAGA的忠实信徒和极右翼QAnon阴谋的追随者中脱颖而出。
伍德自己也提起了多起挑战2020年选举结果的诉讼，目前正在竞选南卡罗来纳州共和党的主席——尽管特朗普已经多次支持他的对手。这位被推特禁止的律师在消息应用电报上积累了大量追随者，他在电报上用他的近85万订户为亚利桑那州的审计筹集资金，承诺所有的钱都将用于这项工作。
“请考虑加入这项努力。我们能完成，爱国者!“5美元，20美元，100美元——你给的每一美元都直接用于亚利桑那州的选举审计，”伍德在4月初的电报中写道。“当一个州的骗局最终被揭露时，就看着其他州像多米诺骨牌一样倒下吧!”
伍德将这篇文章链接到一个名为“声音与投票”的团体的筹款网站，该网站由“一个美国新闻”的主持人克里斯蒂娜·博比运营，同时“一个美国新闻”的白宫记者香奈儿·里翁担任首席营销官。
伍德还与网络安全顾问道格·洛根(Doug Logan)有联系，洛根此前也散布过毫无根据的选举阴谋，是佛罗里达州私人公司网络忍者(Cyber Ninjas)的创始人，亚利桑那州参议院曾聘请该公司领导审计。
伍德在上个月的一次采访中告诉谈话要点备忘录，洛根在去年年底调查2020年选举时，在他南卡罗来纳州的房产会见了伍德。据该网站报道，伍德说:“他当时正在那里调查选举舞弊。”。
伍德和洛根都没有回应美国广播公司新闻的置评请求。
《停止偷窃》的回归
其他全力参与亚利桑那州审计的人包括特朗普的长期盟友史蒂夫·班农，他在视频播客中对审计进行了24小时的报道，类似于他在1月6日之前如何利用自己的节目在全国推广“停止偷窃”集会。
他的“作战室”节目定期在屏幕上显示审计的实时视频，并定期邀请参与审计的关键人物出席，包括亚利桑那州参议员桑尼·博雷利，他最近表示，司法部警告审计可能违反联邦投票和民权法律，这证明审计“超越了目标”。
斯蒂芬妮·基思/盖蒂图像，文件
8月20日，前白宫首席战略家史蒂夫·班农离开曼哈顿联邦法院
班农也在他的播客中说，亚利桑那州的审计“将导向佐治亚州，也将导向密歇根州。”
在接受美国广播公司新闻采访时，班农的一名代表拒绝置评。
亚利桑那州的努力吸引了其他帮助组织和推广的人”停止偷窃“全国各地的事件，包括1月6日在国会大厦风暴前的集会。根据普雷斯勒在推特上分享的一篇帖子，推动并参加1月6日集会的保守派活动家斯科特·普雷斯勒(Scott Pressler)在3月份会见了亚利桑那州参议院议长卡伦·范(Karen Fann)，并讨论了审计事宜。
范恩没有回应美国广播公司新闻的置评请求。
“停止偷窃”的创始人阿里·亚历山大在社交媒体上推广了亚利桑那州的审计，艾米·克雷默也是如此，她经营着1月6日集会背后的组织“美国妇女第一”。
亚历山大被禁止进入包括推特和脸书在内的几个主要社交媒体网站，他在3月份的电报上分享了一条消息，告诉订户，从现在开始，“停止偷窃”运动将“首先关注以下几个州:亚利桑那州、佐治亚州和密歇根州。”
Key figures who pushed 2020 election conspiracies are now boosting Arizona audit
More than six months after the 2020election, several members of former PresidentDonald Trump'sinner circle are pouring millions into a renewed push to challenge the election's outcome -- an effort that has gained new life in Arizona as it captivates the former president and many of his followers.
In the immediate aftermath of the 2020 election, a sprawling collection of Trump loyalists, fueled by a host of baseless conspiracies involving disproven claims of widespread voter fraud, failed over and over again to overturn the election results in the courts. And while the effort resulted in dozens ofunsuccessful lawsuits, many of the same Trump supporters -- from a former Overstock.com CEO to longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon -- have reemerged as key forces boosting the Republican-backedArizona auditof the 2020 election results.
The audit, which comes after two previous audits found no evidence of fraud sufficient to invalidate President Joe Biden's victory in Arizona and Maricopa County, has not only commandeered the attention of the MAGA movement but also of Trump himself, who has continued topush false claimsthat the 2020 election was stolen. Trump has repeatedly issued email statements encouraging the audit, while behind the scenes he's been making periodic calls to get updates from those involved, including Arizona Republican chair Kelli Ward, according to people familiar with the situation.
"Some very interesting things are happening in Arizona," Trump said in late April during remarks at his Mar-a-Lago resort, according to a video posted online. The former president even tipped his hat to a growing right-wing conspiracy that suggests the Arizona audit could be the first domino to fall in a series of events that returns him to the White House.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they found thousands and thousands and thousands of votes," said Trump. "After that we'll watch Pennsylvania, and you watch Georgia, then you're going to watch Michigan and Wisconsin, and you're watching New Hampshire."
"This was a rigged election, everybody knows it, and we're going to be watching it very closely," he said.
Steven Slugocki, the former chairman of the Maricopa County Democratic Party through the 2020 election, said that the audit has become fertile ground for those looking to raise money and boost engagement among the former president's loyal base.
"There are some people that are making a lot of money on this -- and unfortunately, it's coming at the cost of our elections," he told ABC News. "They don't have Donald Trump anymore to lead them on social media, they're looking for content, they're looking for ways to engage the people who believe this election was stolen, and they're raising money off of it."
"It's turned into even more of a circus than anybody could have imagined," Slugocki said.
And while the Arizona audit is being partially funded with taxpayer dollars based on the Arizona Senate allocating $150,000 to the effort, it's also being bankrolled by private donations -- including some from those who pushed the baseless election fraud conspiracies that set the stage for thestorming of the Capitolon Jan. 6.
Funding the audit
Former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne, who emerged following the 2020 election as a key figure in pushing baseless election fraud claims, is one of the main fundraising forces behind the Arizona audit, having launched a website that aims to raise $2.8 million.
Byrne, who previously said he'd been funding his own team of "hackers and cybersleuths and other people with odd skills" to search for voter fraud, has so far raised over $1.5 million to support the audit, according to the website created by his new nonprofit organization, The America Project. The former CEO also claims to have donated at least $500,000 of his own money to fund the audit.
In an online video stream in early May, Byrne, who after the election reportedly met with Trump in the Oval Office, compared his work funding recount efforts over the last six months to providing seed money for a start-up -- in this case, "a bunch of organizers in Arizona, Michigan, and Florida."
"We're the kind of angel money, setting the fires, doing the really under-the-radar stuff," Byrne said, adding, "That stuff is starting to burn and come to life."
Byrne did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
Lin Wood, a far-right pro-Trump attorney who recently called for former Vice President Mike Pence to face "firing squads" over certifying the 2020 election, has also been boosting the Arizona audit by donating what he claims is $50,000 of his own money to the effort. Wood's accusations of 2020 voter fraud quickly propelled him to prominence among the MAGA faithful and followers of the far-right QAnon conspiracy.
Wood brought multiple lawsuits of his own challenging the 2020 election results, and is currently in the midst of running for chair of the South Carolina Republican Party -- despite Trump having already endorsed his opponent multiple times. The lawyer, who's been banned by Twitter, has amassed a massive following on the messaging app Telegram, where's he's used his nearly 850,000 subscribers to solicit funds for the Arizona audit, promising that all the money will be used for the effort.
"Please consider joining the effort. We can get this done, Patriots! $5, $20, $100 -- every dollar you give goes STRAIGHT to the AZ election audit," Wood wrote to his followers on Telegram in early April. "When the fraud is finally revealed in one state, just watch the other states fall like dominoes!"
Wood linked the post to a fundraising website for a group called Voices and Votes, which is run by One America News host Christina Bobb and also has One America News' White House reporter, Chanel Rion, as its chief marketing officer.
Wood also has a connection to cybersecurity consultant Doug Logan, who also previously spread baseless election conspiracies and is the founder of the private Florida firm Cyber Ninjas, which the Arizona Senate tapped to lead the audit.
Logan met with Wood at his South Carolina property late last year while Logan was investigating the 2020 elections, Wood told Talking Points Memo in an interview last month. "He was there working on the investigation into election fraud," Wood said, according to the website.
Neither Wood nor Logan responded to a request from ABC News for comment.
The return of "Stop the Steal"
Others who have gone all-in on the Arizona audit include longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon, who has devoted around-the-clock coverage to the audit on his video podcast, similar to how he used his show to promote "Stop the Steal" rallies around the country in the lead-up to Jan. 6.
His "War Room" show regularly displays a live video feed of the audit on screen and regularly features appearances by key figures involved in the audit, including Arizona State Sen. Sonny Borrelli, who recently said that the Justice Department's warning that the audit could be in violation of federal voting and civil rights laws proves that the audit is "right over the target."
Bannon has also said on his podcast that the Arizona audit "is going to lead to Georgia and it's going to lead to Michigan."
A representative for Bannon declined to provide comment when contacted by ABC News.
The Arizona effort has attracted others who helped organize and promote "Stop the Steal" events around the country, including the Jan. 6 rally ahead of the storming of the Capitol. Conservative activist Scott Pressler, who promoted and attended the Jan. 6 rally, met with Arizona Senate President Karen Fann and discussed the audit in March, according to a post Pressler shared on Twitter.
Fann did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
"Stop the Steal" founder Ali Alexander has promoted the Arizona audit on social media, as has Amy Kremer, who runs Women for America First, the group behind the Jan. 6 rally.
Alexander, who's been banned from several major social media sites including Twitter and Facebook, shared a message on Telegram in March telling subscribers that, moving forward, the "Stop the Steal" movement will be "focusing on the following states: Arizona, Georgia, and Michigan as a start."
