Christina Bobb, who boosted AZ election ‘audit,’ now top Trump lawyer – The Arizona Republic
Former conservative TV host Christina Bobb was not working directly for former President Donald Trump when she spread election conspiracies and raised funds for the Arizona “audit” in 2021.
But when federal agents descended on Mar-a-Lago in an Aug. 8 search for classified documents, Bobb confronted them as a senior lawyer on Trump’s legal team.
The search of Trump’s private Palm Beach residence and the recovery of top secret documents put a national spotlight on Bobb, a graduate of Arizona State University who has turned her advocacy for the former president into a career.
Bobb in June met with the Department of Justice’s chief of counterintelligence and signed a document affirming that all classified material in the former president’s possession had been returned to federal authorities, according to reporting by The New York Times and The Washington Post.
She said as much to Fox News host Laura Ingraham in an Aug. 12 interview, calling the search a violation of Trump’s constitutional rights and saying there were no documents for agents to find.
“We’ve been very cooperative with the Biden administration and the DOJ and turned over everything that we found, that we had,” Bobb said.
Agents seized 28 boxes during the Mar-a-Lago search. FBI agents told a judge they had probable cause to believe they would find evidence of crimes among the unauthorized national security records in Trump’s possession, according to a heavily redacted affidavit made public Friday.
Bobb, a former U.S. Marine who worked for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security during the Trump administration, is best known as the host of “Weekly Briefing” on the far-right One America News Network.
She also did consulting work for Trump’s legal team on a string of failed election lawsuits in 2020 and 2021.
Most Arizonans got to know her from her partisan takes on the Arizona Senate’s discredited election review of every ballot cast in Maricopa County.
Bobb not only “reported” on the review but also advocated for it, raised funds for it and worked alongside audit contractors to manage it, records and emails obtained by The Arizona Republic show.
She baselessly claimed the election was rigged against Trump and sought to decertify results in Arizona, saying on social media the state would be the first to raise constitutional questions about Biden’s legitimacy.
While broadcasting live updates from Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where Cyber Ninjas led a recount of 2.1 million ballots, Bobb urged viewers to donate to Voices and Votes, an organization she heads, to help pay for the ballot review in Arizona and elsewhere.
Voices and Votes supplied volunteers to run the audit, other emails show. Bobb also worked with Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan to muzzle media coverage of the audit, proposing in emails non-disclosure agreements for the media to sign.
Bobb’s role included acting as a go-between for Senate President Karen Fann, R-Prescott, who authorized the audit and hired Cyber Ninjas and Trump’s legal team.
Email records show Bobb provided documents to Fann on behalf of Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani. Those included witness statements and expert testimony designed to sow doubts about the election.
Bobb’s work to overthrow the election didn’t end with Cyber Ninjas. She was also involved in an effort by Republicans to falsely claim they were certified electors and were casting their votes for Trump, The New York Times reported.
She wrote in an email that Doug Mastriano, the man heading the alternate electors’ effort in Pennsylvania, had been told their plan may be illegal, according to the Times.
Bobb, who is 36, was born in Louisville. She has a master’s in business administration from San Diego State University, a law degree from California Western School of Law and a master’s in law from Georgetown University Law Center.
In 2014, Bobb ran unsuccessfully as an independent in California’s 53rd Congressional District in the San Diego area. She lost in the primary with about 1% of the vote.
Bobb left OAN in March to work for Vote Save America, a political organization established by Trump.
She is one of six lawyers working for Trump subpoenaed by the bipartisan House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 Attack on the United States Capitol.
Robert Anglen is an investigative reporter for The Republic. Reach him at robert.anglen@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8694. Follow him on Twitter @robertanglen.
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