FACT CHECK: Did The Cyber Ninjas Audit Report Say The 2020 Election Should Not Be Certified?
A viral Instagram post claims the Cyber Ninjas audit report said the 2020 presidential election should not be certified.
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Verdict: False
The “executive summary” document appears to have been fabricated, as drafts obtained by local media outlets and the final copy submitted to the state Senate do not contain a recommendation that the election should not be certified. Cyber Ninjas, the firm contracted for the audit, said in a press release it was fake.
Fact Check:
The Republican-controlled Arizona state Senate contracted Cyber Ninjas, a firm that has no previous election audit experience, to lead an audit of the 2020 election in Maricopa County, according to the Associated Press. The audit affirmed President Joe Biden won the county, the Arizona Republic reported.
Since Cyber Ninjas released the final audit report, social media users on Twitter and Instagram have been sharing an alleged screen grab of the “executive summary” of the report that says the “election should not be certified, and the reported results are not reliable.”
There is, however, no evidence Cyber Ninjas recommended the 2020 election results should not be certified or should be decertified in its audit report. Check Your Fact reviewed the final audit report Cyber Ninjas submitted to the Arizona state Senate and did not find such phrasing in it. Drafts of the audit report that were published by Arizona news outlets such as ABC 15 and the Arizona Republic also do not contain a recommendation that the election should not be certified.
Cyber Ninjas on Sept. 28 released a statement that called the supposed “executive summary” circulating online “absolutely false.” (RELATED: Were Over 17,000 Duplicate Votes Found In The Maricopa County Audit?)
Cyber Ninjas CEO releases a statement saying through his PR guy about the Gateway Pundit version of the report. He calls it “absolutely false” and that it was not written by Doug Logan. pic.twitter.com/SGT8ED5IRO
— The AZ – abc15 – Data Guru (@Garrett_Archer) September 28, 2021
“That was not written by Cyber Ninjas,” the statement reads, in part. “It is Cyber Ninjas’ perspective that whether an election should or should not be certified is to be determined by the legislature, and not auditors. The audit team’s job is to supply all the facts and findings surrounding the election and recommend legislative reforms.”
Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan further told the Arizona Republic that the fake document was “not one I ever wrote, nor was it ever part of our drafts reviewed with the Senate.” Arizona state Senate audit liaison Randy Pullen told the Arizona Capitol Times that it was a “fake document.”
The fabricated “executive summary” document was spread by websites such as The Gateway Pundit and Becker News, according to Arizona Capitol Times. Arizona state Senate President Karen Fann told the Arizona Republic that the legislature never saw a version that recommended the decertification of the 2020 election.
