On Monday, former Arizona State Rep. Mark Finchem vehemently denied claims that he played any role in the expulsion of former State Rep. Liz Harris. John Thaler, a discredited attorney, had claimed that Finchem was responsible for releasing damning text messages between Harris and Thaler’s girlfriend, Jacqueline Fine-Breger.
Fine-Breger made incredible claims during a joint House and Senate Election Integrity hearing at the invitation of Harris. The testimony was accompanied with a stack of documents that failed to support any of her and Thaler’s claims that Governor Katie Hobbs, members of the Legislature, the Church of Latter-Day Saints, and local elected officials were involved in a property deed fraud scheme with Mexican cartels.
Contrary to Harris’ claims that she did not know the nature of Fine-Breger’s testimony, the text messages showed that not only did she know, but she “believed that this particular presentation would be the subject of multiple interviews after the Joint Hearing; stated differently, the text suggests that Representative Harris knew the presentation’s contents would pique heightened interests,” according to the finding issued by the House Ethics Committee.
In his statement, Finchem reveals that he is considering taking legal action against a number of people involved with Harris and her network of fringe or “grifting” personalities who have grown in popularity due for the most part to their unproven claims of stolen elections.
“Due to the pervasive defamatory and slanderous social media publications and streaming video media made by Liz Harris, Brian Ference, Michelle Swinick, Gail Golec and Jovan Hutton Pulitzer (aka Jeffry Jovan Philyaw), and given that the elements of A.R.S. § 12-651,” states Finchem, “I am exploring litigation, which will be forthcoming once we have collected and documented the supporting evidence specifically related to false claims and defamatory social media entries. A defamation claim arises when an individual publishes, i.e., communicates to a third party, a false and defamatory statement while knowing the statement was false, recklessly disregarding the veracity of the statement, or negligently failing to ascertain the truth of the statement.”
Finchem was the Republican Party’s Secretary of State nominee in the 2022 General election, and his supporters overlap with a large number of party activists who initially were strong supporters of Harris thanks to her focus on election integrity, but who have since grown skeptical of her veracity after numerous flip-flops and misrepresentations.
“There are a lot of Republicans who care about fixing our elections, and the effect of someone of Finchem’s stature coming out and making it clear that Liz Harris and her friends are outright lying and damaging the cause of election integrity, shouldn’t be underestimated.” said one AZGOP activist.
Finchem’s complete statement:
On April 20, 2023, John H. Thaler released a “Letter to the People of Arizona.” The letter contained just enough facts to make it seem credible. Thaler opens with a true statement that I contacted him about a press release sent to me concerning a book that he was planning to publish with the working title, Report to the Governor, detailing an alleged money laundering scheme and implicating government officials in Arizona. The letter is filled with inconsistent representations and false claims.
We spoke for about an hour and a half, and he furnished an incomplete manuscript for my review. While the manuscript made many claims, there was no mention of a criminal statute that had been violated; without such a reference and the evidence matched to the elements of such a crime, it seemed challenging at the least to put together a case for prosecution. I reached out to a number of law enforcement professionals, suggesting they take a closer look. My objective was to quietly prepare a case to submit to a Grand Jury, if warranted [emphasis added]. Mr. Thaler and I did indeed speak several times from December 2022 to February 2023.
On February 23, 2023, Ms. Harris facilitated a presentation to the House & Senate Joint Committee on Election Integrity. She claims that she did not know what was going to be in the presentation. No evidence [emphasis added] was presented to the committee, but instead only glittering generalities that were themselves libelous, defamatory and slanderous. I was not a party to that presentation; in fact, I was unaware of it until after the fact. Yet, in a conversations with the majority caucus members, Ms. Harris alleged that I had set up the presentation, knowing full well that I had no hand in the matter whatsoever. The presentation ran counter to my interest in developing an airtight Grand Jury case, in fact the disclosure made at the hearing put any potential case in jeopardy.
I did indeed participate in a conference call on March 1, 2023, to ask specifically of Mr. Thaler and his attorney to please provide just one complete case, including the statute violated, physical and electronic evidence, the suspect(s) committing the crime, and the money trail showing the participants interaction so it could be presented to a Grand Jury. I was told the case would be forthcoming, as of this writing still no case has been presented.
I am no longer a Member of the House of Representatives, but I do have an interest in secure, transparent and fair elections as a citizen of Arizona. I remain the Republican Nominee for Secretary of State, a contest that is still in litigation.
In his letter, Mr. Thaler goes on to make the claim, again absent any evidence, “For reasons known only to Mr. Finchem…they saw an opportunity to damage Ms. Harris in the eyes of the committee…” This is an utterly baseless claim. I had, nor have any interest in damaging Ms. Harris’ reputation. In fact, I have remained silent on the entire affair, until my name was directly impugned by Mr. Thaler, Liz Harris, Brian Ference, Michelle Swinick, Gail Golec and Jovan Hutton Pulitzer (aka Jeffry Jovan Philyaw).
The ethics complaint brought against Ms. Harris was based on the action she and she alone took and was filed by Rep. Stahl Hamilton. The ethics complaint filed against Ms. Harris —in the words of Mr. Thaler— dealt exclusively with the allegation of, “allowing fake or fraudulent materials to be presented before the Legislature.” It is a fact that no evidence was ever presented to back up the allegations made by Jacqueline Berger, and that Ms. Harris had 5 days from the time she met with Mr. Thaler’s representative, Ms. Berger, to learn of the details to be presented. It is a fact that Ms. Harris refused to brief the Committee chair on potentially explosive contents of the presentation. Ms. Harris must take responsibility for her actions.
The people of Arizona are still waiting on a complete case from Mr. Thaler that we can take to a Grand Jury for action.
Mr. Thaler’s presumption that I have had anything to do with Ms. Harris’ political demise is erroneous and devoid of fact to support such an absurd notion. This is an example of the defamation and slander that can be triggered by reckless statements made not based on fact, but upon fiction and assumptions.
Due to the pervasive defamatory and slanderous social media publications and streaming video media made by Liz Harris, Brian Ference, Michelle Swinick, Gail Golec and Jovan Hutton Pulitzer (aka Jeffry Jovan Philyaw), and given that the elements of A.R.S. § 12-651, I am exploring litigation, which will be forthcoming once we have collected and documented the supporting evidence specifically related to false claims and defamatory social media entries. A defamation claim arises when an individual publishes, i.e., communicates to a third party, a false and defamatory statement while knowing the statement was false, recklessly disregarding the veracity of the statement, or negligently failing to ascertain the truth of the statement.
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