Arizona audit leader Doug Logan wrote fraud claims on ‘kraken’ lawyer’s website

A document that conspiracy theorist attorney Sidney Powell posted on her website with various allegations against Dominion Voting Systems lists its author as Doug Logan, the man hired by Senate Republicans to lead the team that will audit the 2020 election in Maricopa County, including a thorough examination of that same company’s ballot tabulation machines.

Powell is a one-time attorney for former President Donald Trump who became infamous for spreading false claims about election fraud and filing failed lawsuits attempting to overturn election results in several swing states that President Joe Biden won, including Arizona. She posted the document on a section of her website called, “Evidence of Fraud – 2020 Election.” 

The metadata for one of the documents, titled, “Election Fraud Facts & Details,” lists “Douglas Logan” as the author. Logan is the owner and CEO of Cyber Ninjas, a Florida-based cybersecurity firm that Senate President Karen Fann chose to head up a team of companies that will conduct an audit of the 2020 election in Maricopa County, including a hand recount of all 2.1 million ballots cast. 

Among the various claims in the document is a debunked allegation that the “core software” used by Dominion originated with and is the intellectual property of Smartmatic, alleging the latter company was founded in Venezuela and has ties to Hugo Chavez, the country’s socialist dictator who died in 2013. It claims Smartmatic has been linked to election rigging in Venezuela, India and the Philippines.

The paper that Logan authored alleges ties between Dominion and China, and repeats a discredited claim that the private equity firm that owns Dominion sold it to a Chinese-controlled securities company. Claims of ties between Dominion and Chinese investors were largely based on confusion between the similarly named New York and China-based subsidiaries of a Swiss securities company.

The document also cites an unsubstantiated claim that Dominion official Eric Coomer told a conference call of members of the radical left-wing movement Antifa, “Don’t worry about the election, Trump is not going to win. I made f***ing sure of that.” The alleged quote originated from conservative activist Joseph Oltmann, who claimed he heard a man identified as “Eric from Dominion” make the statement during the call.

Coomer also filed a defamation lawsuit based on allegations in the document. Coomer has said the claims are “wholly fabricated,” that he has no ties to antifa and was not on the call in which he made the alleged comment. He is suing the Trump campaign, Oltmann, Powell, Trump campaign attorney Rudy Giuliani and host of conservative media figures. Coomer went into hiding due to the death threats he received following Oltmann’s allegations.

In addition, Logan’s paper alleges “significant security vulnerabilities” in Dominion machines “that could be exploited by a nation state in ways that would be difficult to detect.”

A Dropbox link containing supporting documents for the claims in the document attributed to Logan was deleted on Thursday after the Arizona Mirror reached out to Logan and a spokesman for comment.

The alleged links between Dominion and Smartmatic, which have been repeatedly touted by Powell and other Trump supporters as evidence of fraud committed by Dominion in the 2020 election, are false. Both companies deny that Smartmatic has ever provided Dominion with the software it uses, and the two are separate entities with no financial ties. 

Dominion cited the allegations that Smartmatic provided or played a role in the development of its software in a $1.3 billion defamation suit against Powell. The suit states, “Dominion does not use Smartmatic’s software or machines, and there was no Smartmatic technology in any of Dominion’s voting machines in the 2020 election.” 

The allegations about Dominion and Venezuela were part of the “kraken” lawsuits that Powell filed in Arizona and other states. A federal judge dismissed the Arizona version of the lawsuit in December, writing that the plaintiffs were “sorely wanting of relevant or reliable evidence.”

Logan and a spokesman did not respond to questions from the Mirror about the document. Fann and a spokesman for the Senate Republicans also did not respond to questions.

Former Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett, who is serving as a spokesman and liaison for Fann regarding the audit, said he doesn’t find Logan’s authorship of the document concerning. He said his understanding is that a different company will actually be auditing the Dominion machines. And regardless of who does that work, Bennett said they’ll have to show how they reached their conclusions.

“I don’t worry about what his opinions are. The audit’s not going to be based on opinions. The audit’s going to be based on what we can prove factually,” Bennett said.

Logan’s involvement with the document on Powell’s website is not the only of his activities that have called his objectivity into question.

After the election, Logan used his since-deleted Twitter account to spread conspiracy theories, baseless allegations and false claims of election fraud and vote rigging. He is an expert witness for a man who is suing Antrim County, Mich., alleging that election fraud was intentionally conducted through the county’s tabulation machines, which are from Dominion.

Logan defended himself and his audit plan after the revelations surfaced about his support for the “Stop the Steal” movement that falsely claims the election was rigged against Trump.

The big question should not be, ‘Am I biased,’ but ‘Will this audit be transparent, truthful and accurate?’ The answer to the latter question is a resounding ‘Yes,’” he said in a statement his spokesman issued on Tuesday.

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