Controversial Arizona ‘audit’ shows Trump lost by even more votes – live updates | US news

Joe Biden expressed confidence that Democrats will be able to pass both the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the reconciliation package, even as moderates and progressives remain at odds.

“This is a process, and it’s going to be up and down. That’s why I don’t look at the polls. Not a joke,” Biden said.

“And hopefully at the end of the day, I’ll be able to deliver on what I said I would do.”

Multiple recent polls have shown that Biden’s approval rating is now underwater, as he weathers criticism for everything from the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal to the possible government shutdown.

Joe Biden was asked for his response to criticism that he has not delivered on his campaign promises, as the country faces the possibility of both a government shutdown and an economic default.

“Remember I said it’s going to take me a year to deliver everything I’m looking at here,” the president said.

“Take a look at what I inherited when I came into office,” Biden added. “Part of it is dealing with the panoply of things that landed on my plate. I’m not complaining, it’s just a reality.”

Joe Biden took several questions from reporters after concluding his prepared remarks on efforts to get more Americans vaccinated against coronavirus.

Unsurprisingly, the first question focused on his administration’s treatment of Haitian migrants who have recently arrived at the US-Mexican border in large numbers.

Biden was asked whether he takes responsibility for border agents’ behavior toward the migrants. Some disturbing footage from Del Rio, Texas, showed border agents on horseback confronting a group of migrants.

“Of course I take responsibility. I’m president,” Biden said, adding that the footage was “horrible”.

“It’s outrageous. I promise you, those people will pay,” the president said, pointing to the investigation that is underway. “There will be consequences.”

Biden also warned that such behavior was “dangerous” and “sends the wrong message around the world”.

“It’s simply not who we are,” Biden concluded.

Joe Biden delivered remarks this morning on his administration’s efforts to boost vaccination rates in the US.

The president celebrated the news that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has officially approved Pfizer coronavirus vaccine booster shots for high-risk populations, including those who are 65 or older.

The 78-year-old president said he would be receiving his booster shot “as soon as I can.”(Biden received his second Pfizer dose in January.)

The president also once again urged all eligible Americans to get vaccinated, emphasizing that lower vaccination rates pose a threat to entire communities.

Biden noted that one-quarter of all eligible Americans have not yet gotten a single vaccine dose.

“In a country as large as ours, that 25% minority can cause an awful lot of damage. And they are causing a lot of damage,” Biden said. “The refusal to get vaccinated has cost all of us.”

The president is now taking questions from reporters, so stay tuned.

House Democrats are now requesting the testimony of Doug Logan, the CEO of Cyber Ninjas, which oversaw the sham “audit” in Maricopa county.

Carolyn Maloney, the chairwoman of the House oversight committee, and Jamie Raskin, the chairman of the subcommittee on civil rights and civil liberties, sent a letter to Logan asking him to appear at a hearing on October 7.

“This request follows your repeated refusal to produce documents requested by the Committee regarding this largely privately funded audit,” Maloney and Raskin wrote.

“As a result of your obstruction, your participation in a Committee hearing is necessary for the Committee to advance the investigation of the questionable audit your company performed and to examine whether this audit is interfering with Americans’ right to vote free from partisan interference.”

It’s unclear whether Logan, who has expressed support for the baseless conspiracy theory that there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election, will actually appear at the hearing.

The Maricopa county “audit” was conducted by Cyber Ninjas, a Florida-based cybersecurity firm with little experience in elections.

The CEO of Cyber Ninjas, Doug Logan, had previously promoted the baseless conspiracy theory that there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

According to the Arizona Mirror, in December 2020, Logan retweeted a tweet from a since-suspended account reading, “I’m tired of hearing people say there was no fraud. It happened, it’s real, and people better get wise fast.”

Of course, Donald Trump and his allies have presented absolutely no evidence of widespread fraud in the election, which Joe Biden fairly won.

The Guardian’s Sam Levine and Oliver Milman report:

Even though the “audit” was sanctioned by the GOP-controlled Arizona senate, it was funded by $5.7m in outside money, much of which came from conspiracy theorists, including $3.2m from Patrick Byrne, the former CEO of Overstock.com and an additional $1m from a non-profit founded by Michael Flynn.

Election experts have widely panned the review, which they say was rooted in shoddy practice around a pre-determined effort to show there was fraud.

Ben Ginsberg, a longtime Republican election lawyer, told reporters on Thursday that Trump allies were “desperate for a win”.

In Maricopa county, he said, they had gotten unprecedented access to look under the hood of an election. If they were not able to prove fraud there, they were unlikely to prove it anywhere else.

Regardless of what the report says, Republican efforts to conduct similar reviews are underway. Republicans in both the Wisconsin and Pennsylvania legislatures are moving forward with similar probes in to the 2020 race.

And on Thursday, Donald Trump called for a review of the 2020 race in Texas, a state he carried in 2020 by nearly 6 points. Experts worry that the reviews suggest a new normal, where the losers of elections simply refuse to accept the results.

Greetings, live blog readers.

The highly controversial “audit” of 2020 ballots has now concluded in Maricopa county, Arizona, and a report was released of its early findings.

And that report confirmed what was already known: Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump Arizona’s largest county (and the state overall).

The Arizona Republic reports:

The three-volume report by the Cyber Ninjas, the Senate’s lead contractor, includes results that show Trump lost by a wider margin than the county’s official election results. The data in the report also confirms that U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly won in the county.

The official results are set to be presented to the Senate at 1 p.m. Friday. Several versions of the draft report, titled ‘Maricopa County Forensic Audit’ by Cyber Ninjas, circulated prematurely on Wednesday and Thursday.

The audit was demanded and then promoted by Trump’s allies, who have continued to peddle the “big lie” of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

And Trump supporters have called for similar “audits” in many other US states and counties, almost a year after the election took place.

Perhaps the Arizona results will discourage some of the former president’s fans from pursuing these sham investigations. But this blogger is skeptical of that.

The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.