Former President Donald Trump visits Phoenix for 'Protect Our Elections Rally'

PHOENIX - President Donald Trump made a stop in downtown Phoenix to speak at a Protect Our Elections Rally on Saturday as state lawmakers continue a controversial audit of millions of 2020 election ballots.

Trump said previously that he believes the election results for the 2020 election are illegitimate and that Arizona's 11 electors should have been in his favor.

"We are gathered here in Phoenix to show our support for election integrity," Trump said to thousands of attendees.

Lynn Tomlinson attended the rally and said, "My main goal today is to see the diversity, to see a different narrative of what's been broadcasted, so I think that's been fulfilled."

This was the first time Trump has been back in the state since the election.

"With your help, we will stand up to democracy and justice. We will fight for truth and accountability and we will not stop until we have restored the American birthright of honest, free and fair elections," Trump said.

The event was from 9 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Arizona Federal Theatre.

Maricopa County election results called into question

The Arizona State Senate used its subpoena power to take possession of all 2.1 million ballots in Maricopa County and the machines that counted them, along with computer hard drives full of data, says the Associated Press.

Lawmakers handed the ballots over to Cyber Ninjas, a Florida-based consultancy with no election experience run by a man who has shared unfounded conspiracy theories claiming the official 2020 presidential election results are illegitimate. 

In the statement released by Maricopa County on July 14, Board of Supervisors Chairman Jack Sellers criticized the Arizona State Senate for wasting an "expensive investment that had served Maricopa County voters well in 2019 and 2020." 

"The taxpayer paid good money for them, but now this equipment will have to be decommissioned because the Senate didn’t take our warnings about chain-of-custody seriously," said Board of Supervisors Chairman Jack Sellers, in the statement.

Secretary of State says rallies won't change election results

Katie Hobbs, Arizona's Secretary of State, says regardless of rallies, election results will remain the same.

"The bottom line is, that no matter how many rallies that Trump has, it's not going to change the outcome of the 2020 election. It doesn't change how dangerous all of these lies and misinformation are to our democracy," Hobbs said.

As for the audit, Hobbs says, "One has to wonder if they even know how to count." She went on to say she doesn't know when the audit will be finished.

She believes the audit might be being dragged out intentionally.

Every Arizona voter can be completely confident the election was accurate, fair and secure, Hobbs said.

Hobbs is in the running to become the state's next governor.

Related Stories:

• Secretary of State Katie Hobbs enters race for Arizona governor
• AP: Few Arizona voter fraud cases undercut Former President Trump’s claims
• Gov. Doug Ducey, Arizona school districts at odds due to COVID-19 policies

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