Leaked chats reveal coordinated efforts by right-wing militias to monitor AZ polls

Telegram chats leaked, first reported by Unicorn Riotshow that AP3 leaders were upset when the photos were published. Telegram is a Russia-based encrypted messaging app that has become a major platform for far-right extremists.

“We had a small incident today or last night in Arizona,” AP3 National Commander Scot Seddon said in a video shared on the chat. “One of our members who took part in border operations did something quite stupid. He went to monitor certain ballot boxes, fully armed.”

“We hoped people would use their heads and do things more tastefully,” Seddon said.

The man in the photo ended up being part of the North Carolina chapter of AP3 who voluntarily left the group to “protect” them, according to a video posted in the chat by the leader of the North Carolina chapter of the AP3.

The leaked chats also reveal more information about where the group operates in Arizona, as well as internal documents that show they did not have a complete understanding of Arizona laws regarding drop boxes. Additionally, the discussions provide insight into how conspiracy theories informed their thinking.

“All the police and sheriff’s stations seem to have drop boxes,” one user, confirmed by the Arizona Mirror as living in Arizona, said in the chat. “With all the fraud DeShuza (sic) has shown us, I’m going to ask them if they have cameras if they don’t already.”

Ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza promoted his film “2000 Mules,” which claimed that “ballot mules” were dropping fraudulent ballots into ballot boxes. depot across the country. The film was widely discredited and there has been no evidence to support these claims.

Drop boxes have become the target of unsubstantiated allegations of fraud by Republicans. The film’s makers declined to provide evidence to support their claims, and former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said FBI and IRS should investigate nonprofit group True the Votewho helped make the film, for alleged fraud related to the claims.

The instructions for election observers included instructions to “Stop the mules,” who they said are “well-trained and funded” and part of a “global network.”

The instructions given to participants in the chat told observers that they could stage themselves 12 feet from a drop box. However, the law says they must be 75 feet away, and a federal judge ruled in 2022 that groups behind such efforts must observe from at least 250 feet. feet.

The Arizona person later said in the chat that he was looking at drop boxes in Yuma. The Mirror found that the same user had posted violent and racist messages on far-right social media platform Gab, whose owner is a known anti-Semite.

“Can’t be closer than 12 (feet),” the user wrote when a post about the lawsuit against drop box watchers was shared in the chat.

This individual identified by the Mirror also shared a file listing drop box locations across the state and claimed that the AP3 member whose photo was widely shared was a “federal” or federal agent.

“You’re probably right that it’s the federal government,” the user wrote. “We patriots know not to do this unless they are truly idiots.”

However, he was quickly pushed away by another member from Arizona.

“This is not the case, I am in constant contact with both individuals, they are good people,” the user wrote.

Users of a chat titled “Tailgate Parties” appear to come from across the state, with one sharing a photo of the Prescott courthouse, another inquiring about locations in Pinal County, one looking for members to Tucson and another inquiring about the West Valley. .

Some of the 2022 drop box watchers have thrown parties around their monitoring plans.

The group also spoke about an interaction with ABC15’s Garrett Archer, in which they called his reporting “fake news” and mentioned that their presence near a drop box seemed to influence a person not to drop off their ballot.

“While we were there a car drove by, saw us, drove past the club and continued on its way,” the user wrote. “And then Garrett, that damn Archer…came up to us…asked our names, what we were doing there, were we part of the clean elections group (no), and before he left he wanted to take our photo… uh… no thanks.

The Arizona Secretary of State’s Office returned five cases in 2022 to federal authorities to investigate voter intimidation.

One voter, whose name was redacted from a report to the Justice Department, said he was harassed by a group of people in camouflage who took pictures of them as they cast their ballots at the ballot box. drop box at the Maricopa County Election Center near downtown. Phoenix.

The people in camouflage did not want to give their names or what group they represented when asked by the voter.

The Telegram chat leak comes from someone who has been infiltrating the group for two years and contains a note detailing their concerns regarding groups like AP3. The person behind the leak asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, but gave their views in a letter published with the leak.

The person was provide information about the group to ProPublicaand said he believed the group’s members could provoke “violence at polls, polling places and other election sites in the coming weeks.”

“Most of the so-called lone wolves who participated in Arizona’s 2022 poll-watching were not ‘loners’ at all, far from it,” the person wrote in the letter accompanying the leak. “In fact, they were part of highly organized groups that sought to influence the elections through intimidation. »

The tipster highlighted the timelines and “rules of engagement” the group created and contained in the leaks and revealed that many members of the group were carrying concealed firearms at the time.