Trump hits Arizona AG Brnovich over 2020 election report, setback for endorsement for Senate bid

Former President Donald Trump on Monday criticized Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich for not acting on the reports of alleged election fraud and irregularities in Arizona's 2020 presidential election.

Trump wrote in a press release that he had faith in Brnovich, now running for the Senate, to act on the claims of fraud while many others did not. 

"Well, he did a report, and he recites some of the many horrible things that happened in that very dark period of American history but, rather than go after the people that committed these election crimes, it looks like he is just going to 'kick the can down the road' and stay in that middle path of non-controversy," Trump asserted.

Trump's statement appears to lessen the likelihood he'll endorse Brnovich in the state's GOP Senate primary on Aug. 2. 

Brnovich is running against four other Republicans – businessman Jim Lamon, who is spending millions to fund his campaign; venture capitalist Blake Masters; Michael "Mick" McGuire, a retired Arizona National Guard adjutant general; and Arizona Corporation Commissioner Justin Olson. 

They are competing for the seat now held by Democrat Sen. Mark Kelly.

The former president said Brnovich "wants to be politically correct," but now the attorney general's poll numbers are declining due to the amount of time he took on the report.

"Now, people are upset with the fact that while he states the problem, he seems to be doing nothing about it – he doesn’t give the answers," Trump argued.

Brnovich wrote in his report that he found "serious vulnerabilities" in his probe of the 2020 election but while he has not found evidence of crimes, his office is reviewing additional election complaints.

The former president called the 2020 election a "shame" for the country due to the events that have happened under the Biden administration, including Russia's invasion of Ukraine, inflation, the botched U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and ongoing illegal migrant surges.

"With an honest election, none of these things would have been a problem," Trump said. "They were all self-inflicted wounds."

The former president concluded his statement by saying that he will make an endorsement for Arizona's senate position soon.

State officials, including many in GOP-run states, have said they have found no evidence of widespread fraud in the November 2020 election that could have altered the outcome. However, several states have acknowledged serious irregularities or unlawful changes to election rules occurred in 2020.

For example, Wisconsin's Supreme Court has ruled election regulators unlawfully allowed tens of thousands of absentee voters to skip voter ID checks by claiming they were "indefinitely confined" by the pandemic without suffering from a disabillity.

Also, Wisconsin's legislative audit bureau found numerous other rule changes were made that were not approved by the state legislature. In Arizona, an audit called into question more than 50,000 ballots cast in the November 2020 election, while in Georgia state election officials have uncovered such widespread mismanagement in vote counting in Fulton, the state's largest county, that they have begun a process to have the state run future elections in the locality that includes the city of Atlanta.