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Aug. 10, 2021 - Epoch Times

17:40

Arizona Senate Adjourns Until 2022!? Auditors Wrap Up at the Coliseum | Facts Matter

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	Good evening.
	Over in Texas, the IRS made an amazing decision.
	A religious group out there, which shares the teachings of the Bible and prays for the nation's leaders, they attempted to get tax-exempt status.
	However, the IRS declined their request, saying that the Bible's teachings overwhelmingly benefit the interests of the Republican Party, and therefore, they can't be a non-profit.
	We had the Epoch Times.
	We actually went down to Texas and spoke with their lawyers.
	Meanwhile, over in Arizona, as the audit of the 2020 election begins to wrap up and the final report is due in about a month, the state Senate, they suddenly announced that they are going to adjourn until next year.
	Now, what does that exactly mean for the process?
	Well, let's go through that together.
	This is your semi-daily Facts Matter update, and I'm your host, Roman, from the Epoch Times.
	Now let's begin today's discussion over in Arizona.
	And to start with, in order to set the stage for you, although you likely have already heard, the Arizona State Senate has been conducting an audit of the 2020 election over Maricopa County for the last two months now.
	And as a part of that audit...
	The Arizona Senate is doing a hand recount of 2.1 million ballots.
	They are looking for any possible IT breaches that might have occurred.
	And they are examining close to 400 election tabulation machines which were used during the 2020 contest.
	Now this week, the auditors are wrapping up their final paper examination over at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
	In fact, tomorrow, which is Saturday, is the target date for the completion of the paper ballot examination, and from what we see, it seems like the audit team is on track to hit that goal and wrap up tomorrow.
	Now, what exactly happens after that?
	Well, after completing the paper ballot examination, the audit teams will leave the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
	They will pack everything up, and they'll inform the county officials that they are done.
	Then they'll have to hand back all the custody of the physical election evidence back to Maricopa County officials.
	And so the physical ballots will go back into the possession of Maricopa County.
	However, the auditors have in their possession high-resolution photocopies of the ballots, and so they will continue to run evaluations on them remotely.
	It looks like there will actually be two different groups which will be conducting the final phase of the audit once they leave the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
	Over in Washington, a contractor called Cipher, they will be doing the IT evaluation, and over in Florida, the Cyber Ninjas, they will continue doing the ballot authentication, using the ballot images that they have captured over at the Coliseum.
	And so the big question is this.
	When can we expect to see the final results?
	Well, the auditors themselves are under a non-disclosure agreement, and so the official results will have to come to us from the state Senate, from the Arizona State Senate.
	And according to Ken Bennett, who is the audit liaison, once the audit team moves out of the Coliseum, they will need another few weeks to complete the final phase of the evaluation.
	And then after that, they'll need another about a week or two to complete the final report, which the Arizona State Senate can then expect to receive in early August.
	Now, one thing that you might have heard is that the Arizona State Senate is actually adjourning their legislative session until 2022, meaning they are no longer going to be in session until January.
	And so a lot of people are wondering, what does this exactly mean?
	And what impact, if any, will it have on the results or the possible actions that the Senate can take?
	And so that is a great question.
	And in order to understand what's happening, we need to go through a bit of Arizona state law, specifically the law surrounding how the Arizona Senate operates.
	And so, within the Arizona state law, there is a term called sine die, which essentially means that the legislature needs to adjourn.
	According to Arizona state law, the legislature actually has to adjourn in order to make the legislation that they passed during that session effective.
	The way that it works out in Arizona is that the laws that the legislature passes go into effect 90 days after sine die, after they adjourn.
	And so, if they don't adjourn, none of the laws that they passed go into effect.
	Now, it's worth noting that sine die will not affect the election audit almost at all.
	The audit will continue as scheduled without delay.
	The adjourning of the legislature will pretty much not affect it.
	Furthermore, while they're adjourned, the Arizona State Senate does not lose their investigative authority.
	They still have the ability to continue the investigation, and they can still hold hearings.
	The only thing that sine die limits is the Arizona State Senate's ability to vote or their ability to take specific actions based on the results of the audit.
	In fact, here is a letter from the Senate Majority Whip, and here is how they explained it.
	The legislature's investigative authority does not end at adjourn sine die.
	When the full forensic audit is completed, the findings and results will be presented to the Senate Judiciary Committee, whether we are in legislative session or not.
	At that time, the Senate will proceed to determine which actions need to be addressed.
	More to the point of sine die.
	All the legislation, such as the Second Amendment protections, election integrity, education, economic development bills, etc., that have been passed and signed into law does not become effective until 90 days after the legislature officially adjourns sine die.
	Rest assured, the Arizona Senate will take all necessary steps to ensure elections in Arizona are protected to include the 2020 and 2022 contest, I imagine.
	And so, once the results of the audit come out in August, one of two things will likely happen.
	Either there will be a need for further fact-finding, maybe there will be some litigation that will come out of the results, And then in January, when the Senate comes back into session, they can take some concrete action based on the audit.
	The other option is that there might be something urgent that comes out of the audit, something that needs to be addressed ASAP. And then it is possible for the Arizona Governor, Doug Ducey, to call the Senate back into a special session.
	And so ultimately, in terms of which path will be taken, that will be likely determined based on what the audit results turn out to be.
	Now, if there is some indication of anomalies in the final report, then the Arizona State Senate might have to take some further action.
	For instance, the county routers, which to this day have not been turned over, and the administrative passwords to the election machines have also not been turned over, and so litigation to get these issues resolved might actually take up a few months.
	And so all that might actually be needed to be done before the Arizona State Senate can take any concrete action.
	And therefore, the fact that they reconvene in January might actually be kind of a normal timing for things anyway.
	But honestly, there is no reason to speculate.
	We'll just have to wait and see what the final report says in about a month.
	Now, aside from what's happening over in Arizona, as we mentioned in a previous episode, many delegations, as well as many individual lawmakers from different states, have gone over to Arizona to take a look at the audit firsthand.
	In fact, as of today, lawmakers from 20 different states have gone over to take a look in Maricopa County, and they, many of them, are now calling for similar audits to be conducted in their home states.
	However, Republicans are not of one mind when it comes to the question of whether to hold forensic audits or not.
	For instance, Robin Voss, he's the Speaker of the House over in Wisconsin, and Chris Kapinga, he is the President of the Senate in Wisconsin, and they are both Republicans, and yet they are both opposed to conducting a forensic audit, even as different lawmakers in Wisconsin are trying to get one off the ground.
	And what's interesting to note is that Republicans are generally supportive of these types of audits.
	In fact, just a few days ago, a Rasmussen poll found that 71% of Republicans across the country want to see forensic audits.
	And interestingly, in that same poll, it found that 55% of all voters, not just Republicans, but all voters across the country want to see forensic audits.
	And so, what will likely happen is based on the results that come out of Arizona, we'll likely see whether the political winds blow in the direction of conducting more audits across the country.
	And just as a quick aside, it looks like Pennsylvania might potentially be the next state in the country to conduct a Maricopa-style audit, since just a few days ago, David Argyle, who is a top Pennsylvania senator, he said this in a statement.
	It's a very careful recount, forensic audit, so yeah, I don't see the danger in it.
	I just think that it would not be a bad idea at all to proceed with an audit similar to what they're doing in Arizona.
	I'm not hung up on how exactly the audit is completed.
	I just think that we should complete one.
	I think it needs to be independent.
	I think there is going to be mistrust if the same people who conducted the election conduct the audit.
	And so, we'll just have to wait and see what ultimately comes of it.
	And as always, if you would like to watch the tail end of the Maricopa County audit, you can do so over at azaudit.org, which is the website that was set up by the Arizona State Senate, which allows you to watch the audit in real time from nine different camera angles.
	The links to azauto.org, as well as all the updates that we've discussed in Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, as well as Michigan, all those links will be in the description box below this video for you to check out.
	And now let's move on over to...
	Oh, sorry.
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	No, I'm just kidding.
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	Now, Roman in the studio, back to you.
	And now let's move on over to Texas.
	In a turn of events that I almost couldn't believe when I first came across it, the IRS decided to deny giving tax-exempt status to a group over in Texas.
	Why?
	Well, that group, which is called Christians Engaged, is a nonpartisan group which encourages members of the church to pray for state and national leaders, regardless of their party affiliation.
	However, the IRS reasoned that Bible reading advances the interest of the Republican Party, and therefore they were denied tax-exempt status.
	Again, I just want to reiterate, the IRS, through this letter right here that they sent this group, made the claim that since the Bible aligns more with the interests of the Republicans, this group cannot be considered a tax-exempt entity.
	Here's what part of this letter says.
	And by the way, this letter was written by a man named Stephen Martin, who is the director over at the IRS at the Office of Exemptions.
	And here's what it says.
	You do not qualify as an organization described in IRS Section 501c3.
	You engage in prohibited political campaign intervention because you operate for a substantial non-exempt private purpose and for the private interests of the D Party.
	Now, I just want to pause here for a moment.
	They really have a weird legend here in this letter.
	And so when you look at the legend, the D Party actually refers to the Republican Party.
	And in that same legend, the letter M, it stands for the Word of God.
	It's kind of odd that they won't write that in the letter.
	I wonder whether that's standard practice or not.
	Regardless, here is what the letter says as it continues.
	Quote, Specifically, you educate Christians on what the Bible says in areas where they can be instrumental, including the areas of sanctity of life, the definition of marriage, biblical justice, freedom of speech, defense, and borders and immigration, U.S. and Israel relations.
	The Bible teachings are typically affiliated with the D party and candidates.
	This disqualifies you from exemption under IRS section 501c3.
	And so again, to reiterate, this group, whose goal is to teach biblical values and to pray for national leaders, cannot be tax-exempt, because according to the IRS, the teachings in the Bible are too closely associated with the Republican Party.
	Perhaps the IRS has not taken into account the fact that, according to the current Congress, 76% of Democrat lawmakers say that they are either Protestant or Catholic.
	And besides that, of course, even Joe Biden himself says that his Catholic values drive a lot of his decision-making.
	And yet, still, the IRS declared that the teachings of the Bible are too closely aligned with the Republican Party, so close, in fact, that it cannot even be considered nonpartisan activity.
	Here's how Ted Budd, who is a Republican lawmaker from North Carolina, here's how he described his decision.
	The act of praying for our country and our leaders is about the most nonpartisan and patriotic thing that Americans can do.
	Millions of citizens do it every day.
	The IRS was wrong to deny tax-exempt status based on the false belief that the Bible somehow only belongs to one political party.
	The IRS still has a long way to go to ensure religious liberty for all.
	Now, this group, which was denied tax-exempt status, they are not taking the decision lying down.
	That's because the First Liberty Institute, which is a public law firm which specializes in defending religious freedom, they have taken up the case, and they have filed an appeal with the IRS. In fact, our team here at the Epoch Times, including myself, we were just down in Texas yesterday, and we got a chance to speak with both the president as one of the lawyers for this law firm.
	And here's what they have to say about the case.
	The IRS not only denied their tax-exempt status, They did it in writing and they said why?
	They said, because you're aligned with biblical values, Well, the Republican Party is more closely aligned to biblical values and therefore you cannot get tax-exempt status.
	Well, of course, if that's true, every church now has to have its tax-exempt status revoked because they're aligned with biblical values.
	Every Christian and even, you know, Jewish, Old Testament, maybe Muslim, anybody who believes in any parts of the Bible, Is now evidently Republican overnight.
	It's a bizarre argument.
	It's not what the law is at all.
	This violates our IRS regulations.
	It violates the First Amendment.
	Whether it is by a matter of principle or a matter of political ideology, Is moving forward in a way that is ignoring their own rules and regulations.
	That's unlawful.
	We've informed them of that.
	We filed this appeal in this case to the IRS. And if they don't change their behavior, then we'll have to be forced to go to federal court to apply the law to them.
	So what is the actual next step that you took?
	You sent them a letter of appeal And then they can change their minds before you take them to federal court?
	That's right.
	So we're giving them the opportunity to reverse their own decision.
	Say, oh, we made a mistake here.
	We got the decision wrong.
	Perhaps they'll correct that.
	But if they don't, we certainly can pursue this matter in federal court, and I think we should, because, again, it puts at risk every parachurch ministry in this country, including Christians Engaged and other organizations that believe in biblical values, which we're now told for the first time are apparently are too Republican to be of any worldview significance.
	This would wipe out just massive numbers of all the non-profits, take away all their tax-exam status.
	Certainly would close down all the church's tax-exam status.
	Now if you remember, this is not the first time that the IRS has done such a thing.
	Back during the Obama administration, the IRS singled out hundreds of Conservative, Tea Party, as well as Christian tax-exempt applicants, and they gave them what you can call special treatment, which included extremely long delays as well as bureaucratic stonewalling.
	And then, after multiple lawsuits, the Department of Justice came out and acknowledged what was happening.
	The IRS issued an apology, saying in part that they did target these groups based on their religious beliefs and activities, and then they agreed to compensate them for an undisclosed amount of money.
	And yet, it looks like 10 years later, the IRS might be doing the same thing once again.
	Now, in terms of the next steps in this case, the attorney that we spoke with down in Texas, he said that they are asking the IRS to appeal their decision, and then if they don't appeal, they will file a lawsuit in federal court.
	Now if you'd like to read more about this case, including this very, very, very interesting letter right here, I'll link all that down in the description box below this video for you to check out.
	And now lastly, as we already mentioned in several previous 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 episodes, and the Super Chat feature has just been disabled.
	They are essentially snuffing out our ability to monetize our content, and that is, by the way, besides any type of other censorship or throttling that they have already and pretty much always been doing to our channel.
	However, we here at the Epic Times, we took action, and we created something very cool.
	It's called Epic TV.
	It's our brand new no-censorship video platform where you can find all of our awesome content, such as The Larry Elder Show, Crossroads with Joshua Phillip, American Thought Leaders, China in Focus, Life and Times, and our show Facts Matter.
	And on there, you will find exclusive episodes that you will not find anywhere else.
	And by the way, we also published an awesome documentary on there on Ron DeSantis and how Florida handled the pandemic and the lockdowns, which made it totally different than other states, as well as the results.
	It's an awesome documentary.
	I actually really, really think you'll enjoy it.
	And if you want to check it out, at the top of the description box is a link to Epic TV. So I hope you click on it.
	I hope you check it out.
	And I hope that you join us on this journey of exploring this beautiful world through honors journalism that is based in truth and tradition.
	And lastly, 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 the YouTube overlords still allow it.
	Also, you can follow me over on Instagram at EpochTimesRoman.
	And also, one other thing, we have a new newsletter, so in case anything ever happens here on YouTube, we can send you updates on our videos and the different platforms that we publish them on.
	I'll throw a link to the newsletter A landing page where you can subscribe to the newsletter.
	It'll be down in the description box.
	And until next time, I'm your host, Roman from the Epoch Times.

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