2021-06-26: Audit leader Doug Logan appears in conspiracy theorist election film

The CEO of a Florida-based firm chosen to conduct the review of Maricopa County’s election results appeared in a conspiracy theorist film riddled with falsehoods about the 2020 election and directed by a man whose previous work claimed aliens were behind 9/11. 

Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan had previously been speculated to be the voice behind “Anon,” in the film “The Deep Rig,” which was confirmed at the Saturday premiere of the film when he was revealed to be the voice of the anonymous person mid-way through the movie. “The Deep Rig” seeks to prove that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against Donald Trump, a claim that the former president and many of his supporters have echoed despite a total lack of evidence.

Former Overstock.com CEO and Trump ally Patrick Byrne is the main star of the film, which is based on a book Byrne wrote. Byrne is the founder of a Florida-based 501(c)(4) that is aiming to raise $2.8 million to fund the Arizona audit. 

Former Secretary of State Ken Bennett, whom Senate President Karen Fann appointed as a liaison for the self-styled audit she ordered of the county’s election results, previously told Arizona Mirror that he didn’t know if any other members of the audit participated in the film other than himself. 

“If we don’t fix our election integrity now, we may no longer have a democracy,” Logan says towards the end of the film. Logan also said in the film, before he was unmasked, that he believed that the CIA or former members of the intelligence agency may be involved with “disinformation” around election fraud. Logan did not provide any evidence to back up this assertion. 

During a question-and-answer session with the audience at Dream City Church in Phoenix, where the event was held, another member of the audit team, Bob Hughes, said he designed the paper evaluation system used by audit workers to examine the paper of the ballots for alleged anomalies such as bamboo fibers and evidence that the ballots were filled out by machines.

The filmmakers also appeared to have had unprecedented access to the audit. The movie featured shots from the audit floor prior to and during the counting process, with several close up shots showing voters ballots with their choices clearly visible. Fann and her attorney prohibited media outlets from publishing photographs or videos from Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where the audit took place, that showed voters’ selections on the nearly 2.1 million ballots that were counted.

A handful of Republican lawmakers attended the film’s premier, including Reps. Mark Finchem and Sen. Sonny Borrelli. 

The film rehashes a number of debunked conspiracy theories around the 2020 election and members of the film, as well as special guests, focused on a number of QAnon-related talking points. 

In its simplest form, QAnon is a conspiracy theory that alleges that a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles are running a global sex-trafficking ring, control world governments and are trying to bring down Donald Trump — who is single-handedly dismantling the cabal. 

However, the community has seen division since the election of President Joe Biden and his inauguration, severing into new tribes and forming new conspiracies as they contend with prophecies that did not come to fruition.

Before the film started, the host of the event, known QAnon believer Ann Vandersteel, introduced Phoenix native Austin Steinbart. Steinbart is sometimes referred to in the QAnon community as “BabyQ” and many of his followers believe him to be Q himself. 

Steinbart, who was introduced as the “Az Deep Rig Field Operative,” has told his followers that his future self is sending messages back in time so that present-day Steinbart can reveal the truth. 

In April 2020, Steinbart was arrested for posting medical images and information online of NFL players that he was able to obtain while getting a brain scan. Last year, he got caught using a synthetic penis in an attempt to pass a drug test related to the April arrest. 

Steinbart said that he would be creating “Quantum meetup groups” for people to speak about election fraud claims. The film has been promoted for people to host their own screenings of the film for $500. 

Steinbart and Vandersteel were not the only QAnon connection in the film or made by presenters at the debut.

“It’s the same rancid cesspool you’ll see here tonight in The Deep Rig,” Craig Sawyer, a former Marine who has turned his eye to child sex trafficking, saying that those involved in sex trafficking are involved in alleged election fraud.  

Ret. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser and an avid promoter of baseless and discredited election fraud claims, is also seen visibly wearing a bracelet with “WWG1WGA” on it, a slogan in the QAnon community. Prior to Logan’s reveal as being behind Anon, he mentions working with Flynn helping defend websites and working on other cybersecurity related issues. 

The film, which included misspellings such as the word “annomolies,” repeated a number of claims that have been circulating in election fraud conspiracy circles for the past several months, including a highly discredited report by Allied Security Operations Group in Antrim County, Michigan. 

ASOG’s Phil Waldron, whom Fann almost hired to conduct her audit, was interviewed in the film and testified as an expert for the Trump campaign during an unofficial election integrity hearing in Phoenix. 

Waldron’s company created a report that falsely claimed that the Antrim County, Mich. machines had a 68% error rate, an allegation that Trump repeated on Twitter. Michigan election officials and Dominion Voting Systems, the company that provides ballot tabulation machines for both Antrim and Maricopa counties, have taken issue with other claims from the report, which asserted that Antrim County’s election equipment “is intentionally and purposefully designed with inherent errors to create systemic fraud and influence election results.”

Allied Security Operations Group and Waldron have been widely criticized by election and security officials and have also been known for inaccurate and false claims.   

Logan’s name appeared on a list of expert witnesses on a lawsuit filed in Michigan that sought to audit the results of the 2020 election in Antrim County, and he compiled a separate report on his evaluation of the county’s machines. Anon, who later is revealed to be Logan, says that they were brought on to do an independent evaluation of machines in addition to work that ASOG had done in Antrim. 

The film also claims that Dominion’s adjudication software overwrites a new ballot, which is false. Dominion’s system creates a record that contains the ballot and the adjudicated ballot. 

The film also rehashes baseless allegations against Dominion security director Eric Coomer that has led to him receiving death threats. He has filed several defamation lawsuits over the allegations that the worker was a member of “antifa” and worked to make sure Trump was not re-elected. 

“This is truly a time of Great Awakening,” the film’s director Roger Richards says at the end of the film, echoing a phrase from the QAnon community. 

The filmmakers say that 100% of all profits are going to Byrne’s American Project, the nonprofit entity raising money to pay for the audit. The livestream Saturday had more than 2,500 viewers who paid $45 each for access, meaning at least $115,000 have been raised so far. 

***CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article said that Senate President Karen Fann and Rep. Walt Blackman attended the premiere of the film at a Phoenix church. The event’s organizer announced both were in attendance, but the Arizona Mirror has not been able to confirm they were present.

*** This article has been archived for your research. The original version from Arizona Mirror can be found here ***