Audit firm’s CEO makes debut on big screen
At long last, the documentary detailing the many nefarious ways in which the presidential election was stolen is out and you will never guess who makes a guest appearance. (Or, more likely, you will.)
“The Deep Rig” — which premiered on Saturday to anyone willing to plunk down $45 to see it — stars former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, a Trump supporter who is raising money to pay for the Arizona audit.
Also making his film debut is Ken Bennett, tapped by Senate President Karen Fann to serve as her liaison to the audit.
But the real surprise — a stunner, actually — was the unveiling of the identity of the voice in the movie’s original trailer, known heretofore only as Anon.
Turns out Anon is ... wait for it ... Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan.
Just think about that for a minute. The man in charge of auditing Maricopa County’s election — the one who Fann has said will produce an “unbiased” review of our vote — is now appearing in a film chock full of conspiracy theories backed up by nothing more than QAnon crazies and wishful thinking.
The Arizona Mirror’s Jerod MacDonald-Evoy, who attended Saturday’s premier at Dream City Church in north Phoenix, reports that Logan, in the film, says he believes the CIA, or perhaps former members of the spy agency, may be involved in plying America with “disinformation” about election fraud.
“If we don’t fix our election integrity now,” he ominously warns, “we may no longer have a democracy.”
Convenient, isn’t it? Anybody who raises a question about the many ways in which this audit is flawed is immediately labeled CIA and thus not to be believed, and hey, Trump fans, keep those donations coming.
And coming … and coming.
Come on, Sen. Fann. How can you allow this state-sanctioned farce to continue?
MacDonald-Evoy reports that the documentary in which Logan and others connected with Arizona’s audit ap
pear is “riddled” with the same old conspiracy theories we’ve heard before. Also, with the same old appalling lack of any actual evidence to back up their claims that the election was stolen from then-President Donald Trump.
The movie showed the filmmaker — best known for his previous work explaining how aliens were behind 9/11 — had unprecedented access to Senate’s audit.
While legitimate reporters are severely limited in what they can see and when they can see it, audit financier Byrne’s crack documentary team was allowed on the floor of Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The resulting film included close-up shots of voters’ ballots. (Remember when The Arizona Republic’s Ryan Randazzo was kicked out of Veterans Memorial Coliseum for tweeting a picture that included a long-distance image of a ballot?)
All the usual conspiracy mongers/audit consultants made appearances in the movie, including Jovan Hutton Pulitzer, the amateur treasure hunter who claims to have invented technology that will root out the fraud that has gone undetected elsewhere in conventional recounts. Pulitzer is perhaps best known as the inventor of the vaunted CueCat, hailed by Time Magaine as one of the 50 worst inventions of all time.
Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, also has a cameo. It was Flynn who recently said Arizona’s audit will produce a “bombshell.”
“The entire freedomloving world is watching Maricopa County,” he said on June 8. The findings there, he said, “are just going to shock everybody.”
How Flynn would know the results of a supposedly professionally conducted audit that is still underway is a little mystifying, but I digress.
The host of Saturday’s premier event was QAnon believer Ann Vandersteel, who introduced “Az Deep Rig Field Operative”/felon Austin Steinbart, sometimes referred to as BabyQ. Steinbart was recently released from prison, where he served time for interstate communications with intent to extort.
Another member of the audit team, Bob Hughes, answered questions after the film aired.
Among those in attendance at Saturday’s premiere?
Why, none other than Senate President Karen Fann herself, along with several of the Legislature’s biggest conspiracy mongers, Sen. Sonny Borrelli and Reps. Mark Finchem and Walt Blackman.
Fann has claimed she doesn’t believe the election was stolen yet she hired Logan, a guy who has promoted conspiracy theories, to examine Arizona’s ballots.
If you didn’t make it to Saturday’s premiere or weren’t among the 2,500 viewers who paid $45 a piece to watch the livestream airing of the movie, don’t fret.
You can host your own screening for just $500.
“The unprecedented censorship this film is experiencing means we are relying on Patriot Groups to show the film in their local theatres, meeting rooms and places of worship,” according to the film’s website.
Proceeds from the movie will go to Byrne’s American Project, the nonprofit that has thus far plunked down $1.8 million to help pay for the audit.
As a vehicle for grift, this epic film should bring in millions given the number of easy marks within the party faithful. As a vehicle for truth? Well, that old jalopy broke down the moment Fann handed our ballots over to the conspiracy crowd.