The video covers Stephen Richer, a Republican official in Maricopa County, Arizona, who faced backlash from his own party for refuting claims of a stolen 2020 election. Richer was determined to find the truth to restore faith in the electoral process and found no significant evidence of widespread fraud after extensive investigations and recounts. His stance led to personal attacks and threats, illustrating a shift in intra-party dynamics and the impact of conspiracy theories on politics.

Richer experienced hostilities from fellow Republicans, including violent threats and the label of being a "turncoat." The retaliation extended to Shelby Bush, who supports election fraud claims and has gained political traction within the Republican party. Despite no substantial evidence supporting fraud, election denialists continue to amass support and financial backing, challenging traditional Republican views and threatening public trust in the electoral process.

Main takeaways from the video:

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Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. cynical [ˈsɪnɪkəl] - (adjective) - Believing that people are motivated by self-interest; distrustful of human sincerity or integrity. - Synonyms: (skeptical, distrustful, pessimistic)

I've become much more cynical about politics.

2. negligible [ˈnɛɡlɪdʒəbl] - (adjective) - So small or unimportant as to be not worth considering; insignificant. - Synonyms: (insignificant, trivial, inconsequential)

negligible, too, because Trump lost Maricopa county by 45,109 votes.

3. scrutinized [ˈskruːtəˌnaɪzd] - (verb) - Examined or inspected closely and thoroughly. - Synonyms: (examined, inspected, reviewed)

I would say Maricopa County's 2020 election is the most scrutinized election in human history.

4. unhinged [ʌnˈhɪndʒd] - (adjective) - Mentally unbalanced; deranged. - Synonyms: (deranged, demented, unstable)

I said, something like, this is unhinged.

5. disprovable [dɪsˈpruːvəbl] - (adjective) - Able to be shown to be false or incorrect. - Synonyms: (refutable, contestable, challengeable)

This is as disprovable as saying two plus two equals five.

6. determinative [dɪˈtɜːrmɪnətɪv] - (adjective) - Serving to define, fix, or shape something. - Synonyms: (decisive, conclusive, definitive)

There was one that was a partial victory involving 200 votes, far from outcome determinative.

7. legislating [ˈlɛʤɪsleɪtɪŋ] - (verb) - Making or enacting laws. - Synonyms: (enact, ordain, establish)

That's one judge's opinion who is a radical leftist who is legislating from the bench.

8. treason [ˈtriːzən] - (noun) - The crime of betraying one's country, especially by attempting to kill the sovereign or overthrow the government. - Synonyms: (betrayal, treachery, disloyalty)

Have you been accused of treason?

9. enduring [ɪnˈdʊrɪŋ] - (adjective) - Continuing or long-lasting. - Synonyms: (lasting, perpetual, persistent)

He lost to a fellow Republican who said, Maricopa elections are a laughing stock. Richer moves on after this election, leaving behind his enduring contribution.

10. lynch [lɪnʧ] - (verb) - To put to death, especially by hanging, by mob action and without legal authority. - Synonyms: (hang, execute, kill)

But if Stephen Richard walked in this room, I would lynch him.

The Arizona Republican election officials working to restore confidence in results

With Donald Trump pulling out of his 60 Minutes interview tonight, we'll turn to a different Republican who is paying the price for Trump's claims of a stolen 2020 election. Stephen Richer helps administer voting in Maricopa County, Arizona. That's Phoenix and home to 60% of Arizona voters. Maricopa is often decisive in a state which swings either way. Trump claimed Maricopa county was stolen in 2020. Republican Stephen Richer was determined to find the truth to restore belief in the ballot. He discovered that truth wasn't what many wanted to hear.

I've become much more cynical about politics. There are a lot of people who have no lines in the sand, a lot of politicians, a lot of politicians for whom it's like oxygen, that if you told them they weren't going to be reelected, it would be like unplugging them from oxygen. So whichever way the winds are blowing, even if it's highly immoral, they're on for the ride. What are your fears for this coming election day? That we'll be doing this again for another four years.

Nearly four years ago, republican attorney Stephen Richer was the voters choice for Maricopa county recorder, the office that records voter registration and handles ballots by mail. Richard took office after the 2020 vote when his own party was up in arms over allegations of fraud. It was Richer's first elected office and he knew what to do. They just need answers. It's not that complicated of an issue. It's just people are uncertain. They expected Donald Trump to win. I expected Donald Trump to win in Maricopa county. He didn't win. They have questions. As soon as we give them logical, factual answers, all will be well. And that's not what happened. That is not what happened.

The logical, factual answers came after multiple investigations. A hand recount of Maricopa County's 2.1 million paper ballots confirmed Joe Biden won statewide. Prosecutions for illegal voting involved a total of 19 ballots in Maricopa. 50 ballots had been counted twice for a typical reason. Somebody made a mistake. A human being made a mistake. There were 2.1 million ballots cast in the 2020 election. These 50 shouldn't have been tabulated. By no means were the 50 all for one candidate or another. So it had a negligible impact on the actual contest. negligible, too, because Trump lost Maricopa county by 45,109 votes.

What evidence of widespread fraud was found in Maricopa county in 2020? None. And I would say Maricopa County's 2020 election is the most scrutinized election in human history. When you began to tell your fellow Republicans in Maricopa county that the election was fair and there was no fraud that would change the outcome, how did they react to you? Not well. Yeah, not well at all.

They included Trump, who said, the entire database of Maricopa county in Arizona has been deleted. He called it an unbelievable election crime. It was a Saturday afternoon and I was in the office looking at the very thing that he was saying we had deleted. And so just sort of like, the ludicrous nature of it just is offensive. What did you say in response to what the president had written? I said, something like, this is unhinged. I'm looking at the voter registration database right now. These lies have to stop. This is as disprovable as saying two plus two equals five.

And the reaction was what? The reaction was significant. Three violent threats to Stephen Richer have been prosecuted. One man got three and a half years. The others are awaiting trial. What we see here is your public statement saying that this was not connected to the Internet. Undaunted, Richer explained the facts here. In 2021, he was heckled and followed to his car. People were banging on my windshield as I got into the car. What were they shouting? Turncoat. You're wrong. You're an idiot. Don't be a traitorous. How could you? The fever has never broken.

This was three months ago. I do not believe the 2020 election was stolen. So why do so many people remain passionately unconvinced? I think it has become the tattoo. I think it has become the tattoo to show that you're a true believer of the movement. You believe the election was stolen? I do. Shelby Bush started a political action committee which investigates what she calls widespread fraud in Maricopa county. Fraud? No credible investigation has found she's taken in nearly a million dollars in donations for the work of her PAC.

Arizona and the Arizona Republican Party awarded her the leadership of its delegation at last summer's national convention. And that's why I, Shelby Bush, the delegation chair, and our wonderful state chairwoman, Gina Swabota, and this entire delegation cast their 43 delegates to Donald J. Trump. You are a rising star in the state party. Well, I definitely have brought some attention onto myself, that is for sure.

What do you believe happened in the Maricopa vote in 2020? I believe that fraudulent votes were put into the system. I also believe that a lot of state statutes and regulations and policies were broke, which makes the election questionable at best. Bush still questions whether signature verification was proper and whether some ballots were collected illegally. She's an administrator in a medical practice. You're self educated. That's correct. When it comes to elections. That's correct.

In a recent case, a judge disqualified you from testifying in the case because he said you were, quote, obviously unqualified, not even in the ballpark. That's one judge's opinion who is a radical leftist who is legislating from the bench. And I don't believe that it had any merit in my credibility whatsoever.

Is there a danger in undermining people's faith in the election system by persisting with these conspiracy theories that no one has been able to validate? Again, I'm going to disagree with you, sir, respectfully. It has been validated. And because the election, whom the election officials. Give me a court case, give me something. I don't need a government official with a vested interest in disproving information to tell me whether what I have is valid.

It's up to each individual citizen as a member of this society to review the evidence, to think for themselves and make those decisions. It's valid because you say it is. I say it's valid because I say it is. And if somebody looks at it, they can determine whether it's valid. The evidence speaks for itself. Data does not lie. Data doesn't lie. Election officials do. The election was not stolen. It was lost.

Attorney Ben Ginsburg has represented the Republican Party in many of its most important election cases. In 2022, he joined conservative judges and senators in lost, not stolen. An investigation that exposes election fraud lies. Part of it centers on Trumps swing state lawsuits. Donald Trump and his supporters brought 64 cases. They lost 63 of them outright. There was one that was a partial victory involving 200 votes, far from outcome determinative. And all of that told you what the evidence to back up the allegations of fraud and elections being unreliable simply does not exist.

The election deniers in Arizona will say, we did lose all those cases, but the judges weren't fair. Under the rule of law, you have every right to submit your litigation. But under the rule of law, a conservative principle, a republican principle, for as long as I've been practicing election law, you have to accept the rulings of the court. I don't have time, frankly, to worry about whether people believe me or question my integrity.

I have what I believe is the mission that I am on, and that mission is for my children and my grandchildren. I am not here to make friends. I am here to do a job. Where does that mandate for that mission come from? It comes from my own personal drive. And it also comes from, I believe, a calling from God, mister chair and board.

It has been a calling for many fear God over nearly four years in meetings of the Republican led Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, which certifies the vote. Venezuela Dominion machine. Our election in America is a joke, and Maricopa is a joke. You are the cancer that is tearing this nation apart. Good day. Have you been accused of treason? Oh, yeah.

treason. Murdering fellow officials? That would talk. Republican Clint Hickman has been a county supervisor eleven years in 2020, he was among Trump's most loyal supporters. Maricopa County Supervisor Clint Hickman, still proud that he took the time to call me out and thank me for the work that I was trying to accomplish. Thank you, Clint. Good job, Clint.

But Hickman saw no evidence of fraud and said so when he voted to certify the election. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye.

You've received a number of death threats. I've lost count. I have lost count, and so have my colleagues, and so have. So have election workers. Well, you've lost count, but here's one. Hello, Mister Hickman. I am glad that you are standing up for democracy and want to place your hand on the Bible and say that the election was honest and fair. I really appreciate that. When we come to lynch your stupid, lying, commie ass, you'll remember that you lied on the bible, you piece of. You're gonna die, you piece of. We're gonna hang you. We're gonna hang you. That man is in prison for two and a half years.

But there were others. But the chilling one that you didn't play is one of the guys said, we know the restaurants that you are in, and we know where your kids go to school. Minnis grew in the shadows and emerged on the stage. I hear the word unity, and I get sick to my stomach because there is a lot of earthly, fake, and vile unity talk going around in our state.

This is Shelby Bush, the Maricopa County Republican party vice chair, talking about fellow Republican Stephen Richer this past march. So what does unity mean to me? It means unifying with those that share the core biblical, christian, judeo principles that we share. That's unity. But if Stephen Richard walked in this room, I would lynch him. I don't unify with people who don't believe in the principles we believe in and the american cause that founded this country.

When you heard Shelby Bush say that she would lynch you. Yeah, you thought what? Well, I first thought, like, why is that word in your vocabulary? lynch is a weirdly historically loaded and oddly specific term, Bush offered a modified definition of lynching.

I think many people are familiar with a political lynching. It's referred to as destroying someone's career. It was not ever meant physically in any way, shape, or form. Probably a poor choice of words.

You have seen the unrest in this county, the civil disorder in this county. You're contributing to that. What I am doing is I am shining a big, bright light on the disdain and the arrogance of some of the elected officials. They are elected to represent the interests of the people. And until they are ready to step up and do that, then there will be unrest.

Is election denialism a swindle? Oh, 100%. So for some people, it's a swindle emotionally. For some, it's a swindle politically. For some, it's a swindle economically for some.

This past July, Stephen Richer ran in the primary for reelection. He lost to a fellow Republican who said, Maricopa elections are a laughing stock. Richer moves on after this election, leaving behind his enduring contribution, the fortress defenses around the center where the votes are counted. A wall to defend America from Americans.

I have seen some ugliness in the character of human beings. It has given me great insight into horrific moments of human history. I would look at some of these historical moments that say, like, well, that couldn't happen here. But moments like these begin to give you insight on how stuff like that can build up, how the animal passions, how going along with the crowd, how the emotions of just being your side versus their side.

It's just to say that some of the same human impulses that I didn't understand, I now do understand. You understand how things can go wrong. I understand how a society of educated people can do something truly horrible.

Politics, Leadership, Inspiration, Conspiracy Theories, Electoral Fraud, Arizona Elections, 60 Minutes