Arizona judge recuses himself in fake elector case over email backing Kamala Harris

A judge in Arizona on Tuesday recused himself from the fake elector case after he encouraged fellow judges to defend Vice President Kamala Harris against biased attacks that claimed she was a diversity hire.

Attorneys for Republican state Sen. Jake Hoffman urged Maricopa County Judge Bruce Cohen to recuse himself after he sent an email in August that expressed regret over not standing up for Harris when other people slammed her as a "DEI hire." 

Cohen said in the email that white men must speak up when women are unfairly targeted, but did not indicate who made the snub at the vice president.

“We cannot allow our colleagues who identify as being a ‘person of color’ to stand alone when there are those (who) may claim that their ascension was an ‘equity hire’ rather than based solely upon exceptionalism,” the judge wrote, per the Associated Press.

Cohen later apologized for the email, stating that he allowed his emotion to cloud his views.

The attorneys claimed Hoffman lost confidence in the judge's impartiality, and that Cohen's email showed he allegedly “bears a deep-seated personal political bias that overcame his professional judgment."

Cohen said the email did not contain a personal bias but that he understood it could be perceived as one. The case will now be assigned to a new judge.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.