Trump gets BAD NEWS amid effort to send military to polls

I'm joined now by the Secretary of State. of Arizona, Adrian Fontes. Thanks so. much for joining me. Thanks for having. me. So, Arizona is in the news in a big. way right now because Donald Trump has. turned his attention to that state. pointing to this idea that voter fraud. took place in Arizona. And of course, this is especially ironic considering. uh this was relitigated over and over. and over. There were even the Cyber. Ninjas who came in in the aftermath of. the 2020 election from these Republicans. who actually found that not only did. Donald Trump not win, but the margin. that Joe Biden beat Trump by was even.

larger than had been previously. suspected. But still, that isn't. stopping Trump because he's looking for. any pretext to be able to claim voter. fraud. So, what can you tell us first. and foremost about the prospect of voter. fraud in Arizona? Well, I don't know uh how many times we. have to exhaust uh this notion that 2020. was a clean election in Arizona. It was. fair, it was accessible, it was secure, it was all those things. I mean, look, even I was on the exact same ballot in. Maricopa County at the time running for.

my re-election and I lost. But you. didn't hear me uh you know, and. complain about it. We trust our voters, we trust our systems, and they worked. out well. But one thing you didn't. mention was the sitting Attorney General. at the time, uh Republican Mark. Brnovich, uh who since has passed away, may he rest in peace. Uh his office put. out a report. Uh well, they didn't put. it out. The next uh Attorney General, Kris Mayes, did. And even that report. said uh that they couldn't substantiate. any of the claims that were made. Look,

this is just part of the continuing. grift that we see on the part of. election deniers, the continuing sowing. of doubt on the part of this president. Uh and it's really just a power grab. It's very elaborate. Uh and and the one. thing I will say is this. You got to. give the guy credit. Uh he gets a lot of. people to believe all of his lies. Uh. and so, it it it you know, credit where. due on that one. But at the end of the. day, this is all just nonsense. It's not. going to ultimately go anywhere. It is.

just another distraction away from all. of those things that we should be. dealing with, Iran, affordability, um. the Epstein files, all of that stuff. You know, Arizona is just the latest. iteration of this same claim that's. being surfaced by Trump. Uh just days. earlier, uh we obviously found out that. Donald Trump had sent his Director of. National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, uh. to Fulton County to seize those ballots. So, obviously, Fulton County is going to. be another another point where Donald.

Trump says that the election was stolen. from him. Prior to that, in the. immediate aftermath of the Iran bombing, he said that Iran had interfered in the. 2020 election. Just before that, we had. reporting from the Washington Post that. the White House was putting together an. executive order um on this uh. uh on the foundation of this idea that. China had interfered in the 2020. election. So, at this point, we're just. doing this whole thing where, you know, Trump basically points at a map and any. place that his hand lands on is is uh. you know, responsible for interfering in.

the election. I'm surprised we haven't. gotten Hugo Chavez, the dead leader of. Venezuela, um having interfered in that. election as well. But why do you think. it's so important for Trump to try and. find some place to serve as a pretext. for him to claim that there was fraud? Well, the only way he can stay in power. is if there's if the reason he would. come out of power is illegitimate. Uh. and so, he's going to do everything he. can to subvert the 2026 elections, which. if if if he keeps governing as poorly as.

he has, his party will lose. Uh his. party will lose the House of. Representatives, potentially lose the. United States Senate, and then his. presidency is in jeopardy. And that's. the one thing a want-to-be dictator. doesn't want. But but there's something. a lot more important underlying this. You know, people often will say, "Well, this isn't how we do it in America.". This isn't a democracy that's. functioning with all cylinders firing. anymore. You have the prosecutorial. branch of the government in the.

Department of Justice and its law. enforcement agencies, the FBI, chasing. ghosts and conspiracy theories and lies. And it's not just in elections. We've. just learned that subpoenas. uh in an investigation into uh Jerome. Powell were kicked out of court. Now, these folks are are are not making it. past the judiciary, but the the mess. that they are leaving in their wake with. these illegitimate prosecutions, these. unfounded investigations, and this abuse.

of power, I think, is really important. for folks to realize. We cannot be. comfortable with where we are, and we've. got to be uncomfortable to get us away. from where we are right now. Uh and. these subpoenas in Arizona, I think, are. another example of subversion of the. judiciary. And I I get a little tighter. into that if you'd like me to. Yeah, I. would love to I would love to hear more. about that. Sure. So, in June, as you. recall, along with many other states, the Department of Justice tried to get. the sensitive part of our voter rolls so.

that they could do whatever they wanted. to do. And there's So, there's two parts. of our voter rolls. There's the public. part, names, addresses, party stuff that. that folks can get with a public records. request depending on their use. And then. there's the private part, mother's. maiden name, father's name, part of. whole of your social security, driver's. license driver's license numbers, day. and month of your birth, tribal ID. numbers. That's secure stuff that we. don't give away. It's actually a crime. for us to give that up uh under any. circumstances really that aren't very. very narrowly provided for in law. I've.

said no, and they've sued us. Well, that. lawsuit is pending. I think it's possible that this. Department of Justice impaneled a grand. jury to chase after these conspiracy. theories in order to subvert the current. pending litigation. And if that kind of. prosecutorial misconduct is coming out. of this DOJ, which I would not put it. past them, then then then they've got. another thing coming. So, that's one of. the reasons why this fight is still. alive. And and that that they may have. gotten that stuff from the State Senate.

But what they can do with it and how. they use it, uh they might have some. real problems coming. And so, we're. going to pursue this as far as we can. Uh and I think the DOJ is on some shaky. ground uh if these if these questions. that we have turn out to be true. Can you speak a little bit about why the. DOJ is so hell-bent on trying to get. these voter rolls from state control. into the federal government's hands? And. by the way, this is not just an effort. that they're pursuing in the court. It's. also a tenant of the Save America Act,

which Trump is so hell-bent on passing. that he's willing to throw every every. other legislative priority to the. wayside to to get through. Well, first and foremost, it reveals. something really important, and that is. how hamstrung the federal government is. and how bad their data is in the first. place because people are like, "Oh, well, they've already got all this. data." If they had it, they wouldn't be. asking for it. >> Right. So, what they want is they want. to know uh who is voting, who has voted, and how to find them. How to find folks. like you and folks like me whose data.

may not be available. Because if they. can find us, they can pursue us. They. can send folks to knock on your doors. and ask you questions. This is what. authoritarians do. This is what a regime. like this who's hell-bent on keeping. power does. It's just part of the. regular playbook. Now, do I know that. that's their plan? No, but that's one of. the worst-case scenarios that you can. think of, and I wouldn't put it past. them. They are trying to, however, justify it with this mythology of. non-citizen voters. And and you and I.

both know, even the Heritage Foundation, the ultra-conservative Heritage. Foundation, has found that since 1982, with literally billions of votes cast, there've only been 68 instances of. non-citizens who've confirmed to have. voted out of billions. This is wholly. and completely unjustified. It is the. tail wagging the dog. It is a solution. looking for a problem, and it's. justifying uh this whole non-citizen. voting thing is justifying something far.

more nefarious, far more dangerous for. our democracy, and we really got to wake. up to the fact that these guys do not. want to get out of power no matter what. election results might say. Yeah, that. was perfectly put. I I I often point to. There was a study done from 2000 to 2014. that looked at a billion ballots over. the course of 14 years um to to find. instances of ballot fraud, not just. undocumented immigrants, just general. instances of ballot fraud in the United. States. They found 31 over the course of. 14 years with a billion ballots cast.

So, like you said, this is a solution in. search of a problem. Um I want to ask. about something in particular, and this. is with the Save America Act. You know, they had they had um put forward this. idea that the only acceptable forms of. identification are going to be. passports, for example. And so, I. presume that it would lend itself to. reason that because the federal. government is in charge of distributing. passports, that if, for example, they. get the voter rolls and they can see. what your political affiliation is, your.

partisan affiliation, what party you're. registered with, and then you have the. federal government who's in charge of. giving you the documents that you would. need to go vote, and they can see, for. example, because now they have the. access to the voter rolls, who are. Democrats, wouldn't that put them in a. position where they can say, "Well, now. we know who the Democrats are, and so. when those people try to get passports, try to get birth certificates because of. those are the only two approved sources. of identification um that we're going to. allow," doesn't that put them in a in a. position where the federal government of. one party can determine, in effect, who.

can vote? Well, it doesn't just determine that. Let's talk about fundamentally what this. is from a legal perspective. What you're. saying is you've got to have a. government-issued ID uh and and this. database is going to know exactly who. each of us is. It's exactly what the. Privacy Act of 1974. uh was built against. But once you do. that for one fundamental right, now. that's going to end up flowing to all of. the others. It's going to flow to your. right to travel, your right to bear. arms, your right to speak freely, to.

have this national ID. Now now what do. you do with that? Is that going to be a. hook to health care, to banking, to. insurance, to all kinds of other things. that we do in this country? Are we going. down that authoritarian path for reals. and this voter ID thing is just the. first step in that direction? That's. entirely possible. And that terrifies me. and that's why I'm fighting so hard. against it. Look, Arizona has had voter. ID laws for years. Our voters who vote. in person have to present their ID. We. enforce that law here. We've had.

documented proof of citizenship for. years. That's fine. We've figured out how to. deal with it after fits and starts and. 20 years of experience in Arizona. But. the bottom line is this, Arizona runs. that system, not the federal government. And that is the bright line difference. between what the Trump administration is. trying to do and what other states are. working towards or have already been. doing like Arizona. So this is much more. than just about voting rights and. voting. It is far greater in so far as a.

real power grab from a legal. perspective. But at the end of the day, what we've got is a federal government. that we just can't trust with data. We. saw them put a bunch of social security. data up on unsecured servers. We've seen. recently released. um. interviews that they were having and. some depositions from the the DOJ. teenagers who were out there, you know, screwing around, not even being able to. define basic terms and transferring. stuff to their Gmail and all kinds of. unsecured stuff with some pretty.

important uh government work. This isn't. how government is supposed to work. These folks are rank amateurs. They. don't know what they're doing or how to. implement this uh and and the sloppiness. and laziness of the way they work things. isn't good for the American people, no. matter what systems they're trying to. work through. Well, I want to add one. more variable here and that is the. prospect of Trump sending the military. or law enforcement agents to the polls. This is um an issue that's that's so. concerning that the the DNC has filed a.

lawsuit against the Trump administration. to find out if there are any ongoing. efforts to do exactly that, where the. administration is planning to send. military members to the polls. And so in. the event that this happens, because. obviously that litigation is going to. play itself out, the White House is. going to try and block this to the ends. of the earth, so we probably won't get. anything until until the lawsuit moves. forward and a judge demands that any. correspondence be released. But in the. event that this is going to happen, what's the plan in Arizona to keep the.

poll safe from having members of the. military there expressly to intimidate. people into not casting ballots? Well, first and foremost, let's look at. this one way that the president might be. thinking about getting there that a lot. of folks have been talking about and. that is the possible declaration of an. emergency of some sort in order to be. able to do uh what it is that you're. talking about. The president doesn't. have the power to do that. There's about. 130, 140 or so reasons why the president. can declare an emergency. Elections are. not one of them because we run them here.

in the states at our level of. governance, not uh the president. And so. that's not legally on the table for him. and I think he'd have a tough time. trying to get past that question. But. then there's this other thing about, well, he doesn't follow the law anyway. and so what are we doing to to, you. know, be able to re- react exactly to. those things? Well, I'd love to tell you. uh but we aren't going to reveal what. we're working on with the executive and. the attorney general uh here in Arizona.

and in speaking with my colleagues and. their attorneys general across the. country. through the Democratic Association of. Secretaries of State and even some. Republican Secretaries, by the way, are. very worried about this sort of thing. Let's not forget the Trump. administration has sued several. Republican states for not giving up. those voter rolls that we were talking. about a minute ago as well. So is this. prospect scary? Absolutely. Uh is it. possible? It may very well be. Is it.

probable? I doubt it. And let's look at. the big big big picture here. Authoritarians who have taken over. democracies are generally somewhat. popular. This guy's not popular. The American public are railing against. him already. It looks like he may lose. uh political. uh any political cachet that he has. Yeah. as the months and weeks go by and. I feel. you know, really good about that. as as a politician, as an as a statewide. elected Democrat. But regardless of all.

the politics, we're going to follow the. law in Arizona. Our elections are run by. local officials at the county level. We're a bottom-up state. I basically am. a regulator. We make the rules and all. that. But we're going to be okay and I. want to ensure everybody understands. There are folks working every single day. right now planning on and working on the. November 2026 elections and it's going. to take all Americans to get together to. either work through your party. infrastructure, your organizational.

infrastructure or even if you feel so. compelled, contact your local elections. officials now so that if they need folks. to work the polls, to make sure voters. are safe, to make sure the rules are. followed, that you can get the training. that you need moving towards the fall. and you can get in there early enough to. really help and and and make a. difference in your own communities. That's one of the things that I would. ask folks to do. Well, I think that that. reassurance is especially important. Um. and that's what it looks like when you. have um you know, a.

someone like you in your position as. Secretary of State. So can you talk. about, you know, you're running for for. reelection? Can you talk about the. importance of of making sure that you. are in this position, not just in 2026, but as we move forward to 2028 where of. course, you know, there will be a. general election and Trump seems. hell-bent on making sure he can rig the. rules of the game in his and his party's. favor. Yeah, thanks for bringing that up. Uh. we've got a couple of really interesting. candidates that are running in the. Republican primary against me. Uh it looks like I may not have a.

primary to get reelected as Secretary of. State in November of 2026. Um so so the politics are going to play. out. Uh both of the candidates running. against me have very very deep ties. Uh one of them has been endorsed by the. by Donald Trump uh in her race for. Congress. I don't know if she's going to. get that endorsement now for Secretary. of State. The other one is a Turning. Point USA guy. And as you know, Turning. Point USA. uh is is based here in Arizona and they.

don't like the fact that I push back. against uh the conspiracy theories and. the lies and misinformation all the. time. They don't like the fact that I. will hold up and celebrate local. elections officials regardless of their. political party because the local. elections officials want to help their. communities and I used to be one of. those and I know these folks. They do. good work. They're your neighbors, they're your friends. Uh the folks that. work in the polling places, those folks. on that side of the aisle don't want. someone who's going to follow the rules, support elections officials and secure.

Arizonans' private data from this. office. And so they're going to try to. unseat me and that's why it's so. important that, you know, I think uh. folks can support my reelection. Uh they. can go to electfontes.com. Uh I'll repeat that, electfontes.com if. you want to help, we'd really appreciate. it. It's going to be a slog uh because. Turning Point has been engaged in a very. deeply already uh in a Mesa City Council. race. They're working on the SRP board,

which is a. uh sort of quasi-governmental board that. has elections. Um they're putting money. into these races, so we know that we're. going to have a fight ahead of us uh and. I'm really really excited about being. able to show great support uh and push. forward so that we can ensure that 2028. goes well also because we don't just. have 2028, folks. Uh getting getting. reelected will help me set up so that we. can have a really good census in 2030. also. So this isn't just about 2026 and.

me. This is about what's going to happen. in the presidential race in 2028 and and. the presidential preference election, the the primaries, all that stuff and. moving into 2030, how things are going. to flesh out. Arizona is getting ready. to flip uh and I want to be the man who. makes sure that the real voice of. Arizona's voters is heard and that we. can get past the shenanigans as we have. done year in and year out. I'd love to. do it again as Secretary of State for. the next 4 years. Well, Adrian, I'm.

going to put the link to your website. right here on the screen and also in the. post description. For those who are. listening on the podcast, it'll be in. the show notes. I appreciate you taking. the time today. I appreciate that you. have been. a. a clear voice for for, you know, not. only transparency, but but fighting back. against all the that we're. contending with right now for so long. So thanks again for taking the time. Super happy to be back with you. I can't. wait till next time. Take care of. yourself.