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July 22, 2021 - Epoch Times
19:56
Security Breach After Arizona Court Released Sensitive Documents to the Public | Facts Matter
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Good evening.
It was just revealed, three days ago, that despite a promise that Joe Biden made while he was on the campaign trail, his son, Hunter Biden, still holds a large 10% stake in a Chinese private equity firm.
Meanwhile, over in California, Governor Gavin Newsom's administration is giving 76,000 prison inmates, including violent criminals, repeat offenders, and those serving life sentences, the opportunity to leave prison early.
Over in Texas, two days ago, the city of Lebec became the largest in the country to pass a blanket ban on abortions, at least within city limits.
And lastly, over in Arizona, the audit of the 2020 election is underway.
However, there has been a breach of security.
What happened?
Well, let's go through that together.
This is your daily Facts Matter update, and I'm your host, Roman, from the Epoch Times.
Now let's start today's discussion over in Arizona.
And actually, before we do, I just want to make a quick mention that in the description box below, at the very top, there is a link to Epoch TV, which is our brand new no-censorship platform, We're good to go.
Now, as you likely already know, the Arizona Senate is conducting a large-scale audit of the 2020 election over in Maricopa County.
That audit includes, among other things, recounting by hand 2.1 million ballots, checking for any IT breaches that might have occurred during the election, as well as forensically examining almost 400 tabulation machines.
Now, in the background, as we already discussed in several other episodes, the Arizona Democratic Party is suing.
They're pushing a legal challenge in order to have this audit either paused or stopped altogether.
And over the weekend, there was a development on that front.
One of the defendants in that case is a Florida-based firm called the Cyber Ninjas.
They are the cybersecurity company which is actually leading the audit.
And what happened was that late last week, the new judge in the case, Judge Daniel Martin, he ordered the Cyber Ninjas to submit to the court a slew of documents.
Specifically, he asked for documents which explain in detail how the Cyber Ninjas keep the voter information secure.
Now, in response to that court order, the Cyber Ninjas attempted to file the documents under seal because of their obviously sensitive nature.
The lawyer for the Cyber Ninjas, he said that these documents should be kept private, meaning they should not be publicly accessible, because he said that if the public knew how the Cyber Ninjas were keeping voter information secure, then that would essentially defeat the purpose.
It would be like a bank releasing the blueprints to their vault to the public.
Even the plaintiffs in the case, the Arizona Democratic Party, they agreed that the documents which contain an overview of the security for the audit should be withheld from the public.
However, unbelievably, at least to me, the court decided to release the security plan to the public.
You heard that right.
The court released it to the public.
What happened was that soon after the Cyber Ninjas lawyer submitted it, the seven-page plan appeared on the court's official website.
It was available for anyone to both view and download.
In fact, we here at the Epoch Times, we downloaded a copy for ourselves.
It was that easy.
Now the big question is this.
Why?
Why did they decide to release it?
And thus far, that part is not exactly clear.
The lawyer for the Cyber Ninjas, he filed a request for an emergency status conference in order to speak with the judge and clear up this matter.
According to that motion, the court was aware that the security filing was meant to be shielded from the public.
In fact, if you look at the back-and-forth email records from the filing, at 3.20pm, the judge's clerk said that they received the stipulation and that the exhibit would be sealed.
But the security plans were still inexplicably released to the public.
Here's what the lawyer for the Cyber Ninjas wrote in his request for a hearing.
Although the court had knowledge since 11.02 a.m.
that the parties agreed that Exhibit D9, which by the way Exhibit D9 refers to the security plans, should be sealed and not made available to the public, the court released Exhibit D9 to the public via Maricopa County's Clerk of the Superior Court website.
Now, for your reference, these security plans began to appear on the website at about 6 p.m.
in the evening.
And thus far, the emergency status conference has not been held, and neither the court nor the judge has released any statements explaining why exactly they decided to release these documents to the public.
Now, we here at the Epoch Times, we reached out to both the court as well as the Cyber Ninjas for comment, but we have yet to hear back.
Regardless, we'll keep you abreast of the court's statements as soon as they make it, because, just like you, I am very interested in the reasoning behind why they released these documents in the first place.
Now, besides all of this court drama, the audit itself does seem to be on pace to finish on or before the May 14th deadline.
And again, if you would like to watch this audit taking place for yourself in real time, you can do so over at azaudit.org.
That was the website that was set up by the Arizona State Senate, which allows you to watch the audit happening in real time from nine different camera angles.
Again, that's azaudit.org.
I'll throw a link to that, as well as the link to the story about the Cyber Ninjas, into the description box below this video for you to check out.
And by the way, that is that same little description box that is right below that like button that I hope that you take a moment to smash.
Because videos that are like this, talking honestly about what is happening in this world right now, are routinely censored, throttled, or sometimes outright removed by big tech giants like YouTube.
However, when you smash that like button below this video, you are forcing the YouTube algorithm to share this video out to potentially thousands of more people, letting the truth be known far and wide.
And now let's move on over to California.
Right now, the state of California is working to trim the number of inmates inside of their prison system.
And in order to do that, they are giving the opportunity to 76,000 prisoners, including violent repeat offenders, to get early release.
That number, by the way, includes 63,000 inmates who are convicted of violent crimes, as well as 20,000 inmates who are serving life sentences, with the possibility of parole.
Now, the way that this new early release system will work is that prisoners can earn what are known as good behavior credits, which can then shorten their terms by one-third.
And so basically, the better they behave, the more credits they earn, and the earlier they get released.
Furthermore, under this new rule, 10,000 prisoners who have been convicted of a second serious offense, as long as it was a non-violent offense, are eligible for release after serving only half of their sentences.
Now, although this new rule actually took effect on Saturday, so two days ago, the way that this new system works is that it'll essentially take a few months or even several years before any inmates actually get to be released earlier.
Now, for you to understand the actual idea or the goal behind this new plan, here's how an official from California's Office of Administrative Law put it.
The goal is to increase incentives for the incarcerated population to practice good behavior and follow the rules while serving their time, and participate in rehabilitative and educational programs which will lead to safer prisons.
Additionally, these changes would help to reduce prison population by allowing incarcerated persons to earn their way home sooner.
Now, on the flip side, critics of this new system say that this move will not only endanger the public, but it was also unilaterally pushed forward by Gavin Newsom's administration without any public input.
For instance, a state lawmaker named Jim Nielsen, he's a Republican, he put it this way.
And there seems to be no end to the degree to which he wants to do that.
Now, just for your reference, this new policy is actually part of a broader push by California's Democrats to release prisoners as well as to shorten their sentences.
In fact, just last month, a group called Californians United for a responsible budget.
They called on the state to close at least 10 of their 35 prisons.
And so, we'll have to see how this ultimately plays out, what effect this will have on the recidivism rate in the state, as well as on public safety.
If you'd like to read more about this new policy out in California, the link to that article will be in the description box below this video for you to check out.
And now, before we move on over and talk about Hunter Biden and his links to a Chinese private equity firm, I would like to take a quick moment and introduce our sponsor for today's episode, and I will do so from the sound booth.
The sponsor of today's episode is a very cool company called My Patriot Supply.
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I mean, I don't know about you where you live, but in my neighborhood, when I went to the supermarket around March or April, most of the fresh food was actually gone.
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It'll also be in the description box below this video.
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So again, preparewithroman.com.
The link will be in the description box below this video.
And MyPatriotSupply, thank you so much for sponsoring our episode.
And now Roman in the studio, back to you.
And now, let's talk about Hunter Biden.
It was just reported three days ago that Hunter Biden still owns a 10% stake in a Chinese investment company.
That company, by the way, which is a Chinese private equity firm, is called the Bohai Harvest RST, Equity Investment Fund Management Company.
And for your reference, this investment company is actually co-owned by the Bank of China, which, as you can guess, is state-owned and is therefore ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.
Now, according to a statement from Hunter Biden's lawyer, Hunter Biden actually sat on the firm's board of directors, and the lawyer added this.
Hunter makes the following commitment.
Under a Biden administration, Hunter will readily comply with any and all guidelines or standards a President Biden may issue to address purported conflicts of interest or the appearance of such conflicts, including any restrictions related to overseas business interests.
Regardless of that statement, the very fact that Hunter Biden still owns a 10% stake in a Chinese equity firm does seem to undermine a promise that Joe Biden made while he was on the campaign trail when he said that his family would be free of foreign business dealings.
In fact, here's what Joe Biden said specifically.
No member of my family will have an office in the White House, will sit in on meetings as if they are a cabinet member, will in fact have any business relationship with anyone that relates to a foreign corporation or a foreign country.
Now, when Jen Psaki, who is the White House press secretary, was asked about this contradiction between what Joe Biden said on the campaign trail and the fact that Hunter Biden owns this equity stake, she said the following.
Hunter Biden has been working to unwind his investment, but I would certainly point you, he's a private citizen, I would point you to him or his lawyers on the outside on any update.
Now, we here at the Epoch Times, we took her advice, and we reached out to both the White House as well as Hunter Biden's lawyer for comment, but we have yet to hear back.
Regardless, if you would like to read more about Hunter Biden's business dealings over in China, the link to that will be in the description box below this video for you to check out.
And now let's move on over to South Dakota.
Three days ago, the governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, she filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration over their cancellation of the July 4th fireworks which were scheduled to happen over at Mount Rushmore.
Here's how she described the circumstances which led up to this lawsuit herself.
Mount Rushmore is the very best place to celebrate America's birthday and all that makes our country special.
Unfortunately, the Biden administration canceled our Mount Rushmore fireworks celebration, so we're suing them to get the fireworks back.
Now, just for your reference, to give you a bit of background on this case, between the years of 2009 and 2019, there was actually a prohibition on fireworks over at Mount Rushmore.
However, two years ago, the state of South Dakota actually reached an agreement with the National Park Service in order to restart having fireworks celebrations.
And if you remember, last year, it was an event with a lot of fanfare.
President Trump himself even went there.
However, this year, the Park Service, under the Biden administration, denied the request to have a fireworks celebration on July 4th, citing the pandemic as well as opposition from local native tribes.
Here's what the Biden administration said.
Potential risks to the park itself and to the health and safety of employees and visitors associated with the fireworks demonstration continue to be a concern and are still being evaluated as a result of the 2020 event.
However, Kristi Noem said that this was actually a breach of their agreement and that their statement did not contain a real, meaning a meaningful, explanation as to why the fireworks were not allowed.
And now, we'll just have to wait and see what the courts ultimately decide.
Now, we're here at the Epoch Times.
We actually reached out to the White House for comment on this matter, but we have yet to hear back.
If you'd like to read more about this fireworks lawsuit out in South Dakota for yourself, the link to that article will be in the description box below this video for you to check out.
And now let's move on over to Tennessee.
Three days ago, the legislature of Tennessee approved an election integrity bill.
And now this bill, once signed into law, will require every absentee ballot in the entire state of Tennessee to have a watermark on it, similar to how the $20 and $100 bills have watermarks on them.
This makes it ultimately harder for people to counterfeit them.
Now, this bill passed the legislature almost unanimously.
In the Senate, it was 27-0, and in the House, it was 92-1.
And so only one lawmaker in all of Tennessee opposed the measure.
Now, this bill is on its way over to the governor's desk in order to be signed into law, and the governor, Bill Lee, he's a Republican, is expected to sign it within the next few days.
Now, what's interesting to note here is that this bill did go through some revisions before ultimately getting approved.
The initial version of the bill also required that election officials, as well as election commissions, were not allowed to use private funds in order to carry out an election.
However, after a lot of back and forth, that measure was ultimately scrapped, and the amended, final version of the bill, which actually wound up passing the legislature, was only about adding watermarks to ballots.
And by the way, as we already mentioned in a previous episode, this new measure out in Tennessee is not an isolated case.
It's actually part of a broader battle which is unfolding across the entire country right now over the future of our elections.
And in fact, in order to make sense of it all, our team put together this.
It is a special infographic which gives you a fact-based summary of the two sides of the debate.
On one side, over there in blue, you have the Democrats' HR1 federal proposal, which they say will expand voter access.
And what we did was we distilled it down into the 30 main ways that it would change our elections, such as, for instance, by legalizing nationwide mail-in voting without a photo ID.
And then on the other side, in red, you have the states with Republican legislatures, such as Tennessee, which are pushing for a completely different set of initiatives, which they say will make elections more secure.
Things like requiring photo IDs, prohibiting same-day voter registrations, as well as adding watermarks to ballots.
Now, if you want to check this infographic out for yourself, I'll throw a link to it in the description box below.
You can go on over there and get deeper into the data.
And now let's talk a bit about John Kerry.
According to recently revealed financial disclosures, John Kerry, who is the Special Presidential Envoy on Climate over at the State Department, he has made millions of dollars on stocks, including on stocks of oil companies.
And he made this money, by the way, after he assumed office in January.
That's when he liquidated his positions in these stocks.
And according to these filings, John Kerry's total investments were valued between $4 million and $50 million, and his investments included a number of oil companies, such as Duke Energy, Symerix, Dominion Energy, as well as Excellon Corporation.
Now, it's interesting to note that during the same time that John Kerry held onto these investments, including these investments in the oil companies, he served as the advisory board chairman for the Climate Finance Partners.
Whose stated mission is to finance solutions that address climate change.
And also, during that same time period, he also collected $125,000 in consulting fees from the RISE Fund, which, among other things, invests in companies in the renewable energy sector.
And so, it looks like John Kerry was invested on both ends of the spectrum.
Now, it's also worth noting that what he did was technically not illegal.
However, after a review from the State Department's Ethics Office, they did ask John Kerry to divest from these investments.
And he ultimately did.
Now, we here at the Epoch Times, we reached out to the State Department for comment on this matter, but they have yet to get back to us.
Regardless, if you would like to read more about John Kerry's investment strategy, the link to that will be in the description box below this video for you to check out.
And now let's move on over to Texas.
Two days ago, a city called Lebec, which is in West Texas, became the largest city in America to ban abortions.
What happened was that last Saturday, the citizens of Lebec voted and they adopted an ordinance which outlawed abortions within city limits and declared the town a sanctuary city for the unborn.
According to the unofficial election results, 62% of the people there voted in favor of this ordinance.
And so now, with this ordinance in place, abortions conducted within city limits, at all times, as well as at any stage of the pregnancy, is now considered an act of murder.
However, it's worth noting that under this new ordinance, abortions which are done to either save the life of the mother, to remove a fetus whose death was the result of a miscarriage, or to remove an ectopic pregnancy is not considered murder.
Now, the ACLU of Texas was not pleased with this election results, and they issued a statement which reads in part, Furthermore, according to a statement from Planned Parenthood, their clinic, which is in Lebec, will remain open and will follow legal restrictions as required, they said, meaning likely that they will not be performing abortions in that clinic.
Now, Lebec is now the first city in the country to do this.
There are actually 24 other cities in Texas, as well as two cities in Nebraska, which have passed similar ordinances.
But what makes this case special is that Lebec is the largest city to do this.
They have a population of over a quarter million people, which is ten times the amount of people in the second largest city.
And secondly, they are the only town with an active abortion clinic to have passed this ordinance.
They had a Planned Parenthood there.
And so now, we'll have to wait and see whether the ACLU or Planned Parenthood decides to sue the city, and if they do, what the ultimate outcome of that will be.
Now, we here at the Epoch Times, we will be following this case closely, and we'll let you know about any developments as they come about.
If you would like to read more about this city in Texas which banned abortions, the link to that will be in the description box below this video for you to check out.
And now lastly, as we already discussed in several other episodes, on the very same day that Joe Biden was sworn into office, YouTube made the unilateral decision to demonetize our program.
We can now no longer run any ads before, during, or after our episodes, and the super chat feature has just been disabled.
They are essentially trying to snuff out our independent journalism.
However, we here at the Epic Times have launched something very cool.
It's called Epic TV.
It is a no-censorship platform where you can find all of our programs, such as the Larry Elder Show, Crossroads with Joshua Phillips, American Thought Leaders, Counterpunch with Trevor Loudon, China in Focus with Tiffany Meyer, as well as Facts Matter with me, myself, Roman Balmakov.
And actually, starting this week, we will be publishing exclusive episodes on Epic TV, starting maybe Wednesday or Thursday.
So go on over there, subscribe, watch all the awesome content, and look out for awesome, exclusive episodes of Facts Matter that you will not be able to find here on YouTube.
Again, that link will be in the description box below.
I hope you click on it, I hope you subscribe, and I hope that you join us on this journey of exploring truth and tradition through honest journalism.
And now if you haven't already, smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm, subscribe to this YouTube channel if you haven't already, in order to get this type of honest news content delivered directly into your YouTube feed while you still can.
And until next time, I'm your host, Roman from the Epoch Times.
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