A supporter of President Donald Trump demonstrates at a ‘Stop the Steal’ rally in front of the State Capitol on November 7, 2020 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
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But Bennett’s insistence to VICE News that the audit was still something he could verify doesn’t chime with comments the former secretary of state has made in recent days.For example, during an interview with local conservative talk show host James T. Harris on Monday, Bennett said he had previously been kept in the dark about Cyber Ninjas procedures during the audit and that he had been talked out of resigning by Fann.More worryingly, Bennett also spoke about his concern that without the necessary oversight on the current recount—which is looking at the overall tally of ballots in Maricopa County—that Cyber Ninjas could “force balance” the results in order to back up their earlier results.The term is used in accounting to suggest that someone is cooking the books, by maliciously entering the wrong figures in order to cover up some sort of fraud while making it appear like the books are balanced.
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The audit is already way over schedule and a final result from Cyber Ninjas isn’t going to be published any time soon.“I think [the current recount] is gonna wrap up for sure this week sometime,” Bennett said, adding that “then it'll be a few weeks for [Cyber Ninjas] to put the report together... for sometime in August or early September.”And no matter what the Cyber Ninja’s report says, there will be intense focus on it from all sides.“The audit is going to be under more scrutiny than the audit is scrutinizing the election,” Bennett said.