An Alaskan state legislator who attended the Jan. 6 Trump rally in Washington, D.C. that turned into a violent attack on Congress got a tour Tuesday of the shady “audit” of Maricopa County, Arizona’s 2020 votes. Several legislators from other states are also expected to get tours of the audit this week.
State Rep. David Eastman (R) was given a tour of the audit site by Randy Pullen, the former chair of the Arizona Republican Party and now the spokesperson for the audit, Pullen told KTAR’s Griselda Zetino.
It appears the first state lawmaker of the day (possibly from Alaska) is here. #AZauditpool pic.twitter.com/LgifVPaErO
— Griselda Zetino (@GriseldaZetino) June 8, 2021
In December, Eastman wrote that he supported “Trump’s effort to resolve each of the irregularities that took place involving last month’s election.” A day before the Capitol attack, he wrote a blog post entitled “Trump Lost and Jeffrey Epstein Killed Himself” in which he pushed Trump’s call for Congress not to certify Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 election.
In an early afternoon call with Alaska Public Media on the day of the attack, Eastman said he was walking from the White House to the Capitol.
“I know there’s quite the fight on the national level and [it’s] important that Alaska be represented in that fight, and that Alaskans concerned on voter integrity have a voice,” Eastman told APR. “I want to be part of that.”
He later told APM that he did not witness any of the violence at the Capitol building. APM noted that a photo from that day showed Eastman at the Grant Memorial, just a few hundred feet from the Capitol Building itself.
A week after the insurrectionary attack, Eastman compared those who charged the U.S. Capitol to people who violated “the integrity of our election.”
“Those who broke the law in violating the integrity of our capitol building should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he wrote. “Those who broke the law in violating the integrity of our election should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Fair is fair. Either we are a nation of laws, or we aren’t.”
In an email to TPM, Eastman confirmed that he’d received a tour and suggested he hoped to take lessons from the audit home to Alaska.
“Alaskans must have confidence in the integrity of our election process. Following the audit, regardless of the outcome, Arizonans will have confidence in their process,” Eastman said. “Alaskans deserve to have that same level of confidence. If the audit confirms the results, great. If it identifies weaknesses, those weaknesses can be addressed.”
Another lawmaker who was in D.C. on Jan. 6, former Arizona State Rep. Anthony Kern (R), actually worked for a time as a paid ballot-counter for the audit. Photos from Jan. 6 showed Kern on the steps of the Capitol.
Lawmakers From Several States Will Visit Audit
Eastman was just one of several lawmakers slated to visit the Arizona audit site this week.
Two other legislators, Georgia State Sens. Burt Jones (R) and Brandon Beach (R), were also present at the audit site Tuesday, Zetino reported. Their planned tour was first reported by KJZZ on Monday.
Just moments ago, Rep. David Eastman from Alaska and State Sens. Burt Jones and Brandon Beach from Georgia were given a tour of the audit. #AZauditpool pic.twitter.com/nWhFHGVg0Q
— Griselda Zetino (@GriseldaZetino) June 8, 2021
The Alaska and Georgia delegations followed a visit last month from several Republican Pennsylvania lawmakers, one of whom later told Steve Bannon that the audit was a “model” for future disputed elections.
Staff from the Nevada Republican Party also got their own tour of the audit venue, KJZZ reported. And Pullen said Tuesday that lawmakers from Virginia and Wisconsin could also visit the audit this week, Zetino reported.
The talk radio host John Fredericks tweeted Monday that Beach and Jones’ visit was meant “to get a blueprint for a statewide forensic audit in Georgia.” Neither the Georgia legislators nor Eastman returned TPM’s emails Tuesday seeking comment.
Audit fever is indeed spreading across the country among Republicans upset about Donald Trump’s status as a one-term president. But the Arizona review is hardly a model of good auditing, experts and critics have said.
For one thing, it’s being funded anonymously by donors who’ve for months falsely said Trump’s second term was stolen from him. The man running the audit, “Cyber Ninjas” CEO Doug Logan, spread insane conspiracy theories online about the 2020 election. And the review itself is, logistically, a complete mess.
This post has been updated.
