Previously hidden Cyber Ninjas texts revealed in Republic records lawsuit over 'audit'

A digital backdoor is allowing the public to read more than 1,400 text messages that Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan has tried for years to hide.

The newly deciphered messages come to light more than two years after The Arizona Republic filed a lawsuit seeking communications surrounding the Arizona Senate's "audit."

The messages reveal communications between Logan and Michigan lawyer Stefanie Lambert, who led a campaign to access voting software in several swing states in her effort to help overturn the 2020 election on behalf of former President Donald Trump.

Lambert and Logan discussed "audit" funding, voting machines and concerns raised by then-Senate President Karen Fann about what they should allow the public to know.

Fann, who as the Arizona Senate president authorized a review of 2.1 million ballots in Maricopa County in 2020, wanted to keep quiet the funding of the "audit," according to the newly revealed messages.

"She doesn't want the Senate to look bad for not properly funding it," Logan messaged Lambert in July 2021, as he was struggling to pay for the election review that had gone on longer than originally planned.

"She wanted us to fund raise quietly, through other organizations," Logan continued.

Lambert, who was criminally charged for her election-related efforts in Michigan, criticized Fann's stealthiness.

"So she prefers that it fails? Or that you go bankrupt?!" Lambert responded.

The previously hidden messages include a link to a fundraising site that allowed people to donate directly to Logan, which he called "kind of sketchy." The site still is available on the Wayback Machine on Internet Archives.

A map on the site highlighted Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania, four states where Trump allies sought to get hold of voting machine data and had false electors sign documents claiming he won the 2020 election.

The fundraising site was set up by former Michigan attorney general candidate Matt DePerno, who was also charged in Michigan with Lambert and others over the voting-machine breaches. He has pleaded not guilty and says the investigation is politically motivated.

The 1,484 messages were hidden by Cyber Ninjas' CEO Logan and his attorneys in their responses to The Republic's lawsuit.

The redactions were uncovered by a team of data analysts called The Audit Guys, who have reviewed material Logan sent to a public "reading room" in response to a judge's orders.

While some of the messages appear to reveal unflattering details of the recount effort, it remains unclear why Logan has decided to attempt to withhold them this long.

Logan and Lambert did not respond Monday to requests for comment on the redacted messages.

Logan or his legal team have provided various justifications for blacking out the messages, including footnotes such as “impacts relationship in a legal manner” or “term ramifications to (Cyber Ninjas)” on the documents they submitted in the case.

Logan, who worked with Lambert to access voting machine data in Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania, also claimed some documents were protected by attorney-client privlege.

Lambert had no official role in the "audit" and was not Cyber Ninjas' lawyer during the ballot review.

Republican lawmakers in the Arizona Senate enabled Cyber Ninjas' so-called audit of the Maricopa County 2020 election that Trump allies used in their multistate efforts to sow mistrust in election processes.

The Republic sued the Arizona Senate and Cyber Ninjas in 2021 for financial and communications records about the partisan "audit."

Fann, R-Prescott, and Sen. Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, oversaw Cyber Ninjas' work.

Fann responded Tuesday to a question about Logan's assertion that she did not want him openly fundraising because it made her look bad for not fully funding the audit with a terse message: "Not correct." She had no further comment.

How the records came to light

Judges have repeatedly ruled in The Republic's favor and ordered Logan to turn over all audit-related communications. The Senate also was ordered to turn over troves of communication related to the audit with some exceptions.

Logan, however, has defied those orders. He continued to hold back records even after a judge in January 2022 issued $50,000-a-day sanctions against Cyber Ninjas for not complying with orders.

Logan turned over thousands of messages that were either partially or entirely blacked out, or redacted, for questionable reasons.

Logan has tried to redact more than 1,400 messages with Lambert, but he or his legal team submitted the documents in a format that made it possible to undo the redactions and expose the underlying messages he was attempting to conceal.

The previously redacted messages are the digital equivalent of using a dark marker to black out text on a sheet of paper, which is still readable if the paper is held up to a light.

The Audit Guys assisted The Republic with removing the redactions. Previously, the group built software to untangle and organize the messages, which had been submitted in various formats and out of sequence.

The Audit Guys have long challenged Logan's ballot review as "fiction" and after an exhaustive analysis of data in 2021 concluded that Logan's "results" were wildly inaccurate and made up.

The Audit Guys are Larry Moore, the founder of Boston-based election technology company Clear Ballot Group; Benny White, a prominent Pima County Republican data analyst; and Tim Halvorsen, Clear Ballot's retired chief technology officer.

Their stated mission is to "debunk election disinformation and confront those who use their power to spread it." They were interested in the messages between Logan and Lambert because of their coordinated efforts across the country following Trump's loss.

Democracy in Doubt series: White House phone calls, baseless fraud charges: The origins of the Arizona election review

Who is Michigan attorney Stefanie Lambert?

A Michigan grand jury in August indicted Lambert on multiple conspiracy charges, including "undue possession" of a voting machine.

Lambert also is one of 30 unnamed and unindicted co-conspirators a Georgia grand jury accused of participating in a sweeping election conspiracy. Trump and 18 of his allies were charged in the case.

Lambert, who pleaded not guilty in Michigan, said all the cases were politically motivated. Logan was named in both cases but has not faced charges.

Records show Lambert exchanged more than 2,400 text messages with Logan during the "audit," more than any other person he messaged while leading the effort.

Previously released text messages and court records show Lambert tapped Logan to analyze voting equipment in battleground states shortly after the Nov. 3, 2020, election.

Prosecutors with the Michigan Attorney General's Office say Logan was involved in taking apart five voting machines from three Michigan counties while holed up in a Detroit-area hotel room in April 2021 — just days after the Arizona Senate hired him to lead the "audit."

Text messages show Logan texted Lambert nearly every day — often dozens of times — from March 2021, before the Arizona ballot review began, to January 2022, months after it ended. Court records show Logan and Lambert were in contact even earlier.

Logan and Lambert discussed their Michigan election investigation, the Department of Justice, "audit" fundraising, Dominion voting machines and putting "liberal companies funding communism out of business," according to earlier texts obtained by The Republic.

Why did The Republic sue for the Cyber Ninjas audit communications?

The Republic is fighting for the records to provide the public a better understanding of the unprecedented "audit" of the election, which involved the Senate issuing subpoenas to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and moving election equipment and about 2.1 million ballots to the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum for inspection by private contractors.

The hand count was supposed to take a few weeks and cost taxpayers $150,000. It ultimately took months and so far has cost Arizona more than $5.5 million.

Logan said at a Sept. 24, 2021, Senate hearing the hand count showed President Joe Biden beat Trump in Maricopa County, and the numbers closely matched the county's certified election results from November. Logan's reports skimmed over the outcomes and focused on perceived voting irregularities.

But Logan privately admitted in text messages obtained by The Republic that he couldn't make sense of his own numbers, which he called "screwy."

Robert Anglen is an investigative reporter for The Republic. Reach him at robert.anglen@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8694. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @robertanglen.

Reach reporter Ryan Randazzo at ryan.randazzo@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4331. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @UtilityReporter.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Hidden Arizona 'audit' text messages between Cyber Ninjas, Trump ally