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Comedian and political commentator Jon Stewart clashed with Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich in an Apple TV Plus episode that will air Friday.
Arizona has been at the epicenter of 2020 election fraud allegations. Earlier this month, Brnovich requested that the FBI and IRS to investigate conservative nonprofit True The Vote on allegations that the group raised money on false claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. Brnovich has repeatedly worked to investigate fraud allegations for the 2020 presidential election, and he maintained that talking point when interviewed by Stewart.
On Tuesday, The Problem With Jon Stewart tweeted an almost three-minute clip from the episode. The video has received nearly 1 million views and more than 27,000 interactions on Twitter.
Arizona is at the epicenter of many key issues. It is also a beacon for those who believe the last election was stolen or fraudulent. In this excerpt, we sat down with Arizona’s attorney general Mark Brnovich. Watch the full interview starting October 28 on @AppleTVPlus pic.twitter.com/CZo5IwqHdG
— The Problem With Jon Stewart (@TheProblem) October 25, 2022
The segment follows another episode released this month in which Stewart interviewed Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge about her state's anti-trans law. That episode went viral, amassing more than 14 million views on Twitter, according to The Daily Beast.
In the most recent clip, Brnovich said there were 20 criminal cases regarding 2020 election fraud in Arizona.
"But the reality is there are millions of people, not only in Arizona, but people throughout this country that think the election was stolen," Brnovich said during the interview.
Stewart then read off a list of numbers that former President Donald Trump claimed led to a stolen election.
"Now the truth is, none of that is real," Stewart said.
Brnovich responded that after people began to push back on whether President Joe Biden won Arizona or not, he was pressured to "do something about it." So, he launched investigations into the alleged voter fraud. Stewart asked if Brnovich would publicly admit that Trump lost the election at the end of the investigation.
Brnovich didn't answer the question directly and instead said, "I have always been a straight shooter," to which Stewart burst out laughing. Brnovich went on to clarify, "Donald Trump lost Arizona," but that active investigations were ongoing.
Stewart and Brnovich continued to exchange words for several minutes, with Brnovich refusing to answer Stewart's questions on if the Arizona election was fair with a simple "yes" or "no." Instead, he said after his investigations are complete, people should draw their own conclusions.
"This is blowing my mind," Stewart said at the end of the clip.
Out of nearly 4 million voters, Biden flipped Arizona blue when he won the state by .5 percent, according to a Politico analysis. In the 2016 election, Trump easily won Arizona with a nearly 4 percent lead over Democrat Hillary Clinton, according to a New York Times analysis.
Newsweek reached out to Brnovich's office for comment.
About the writer
Anna Skinner is a Newsweek senior reporter based in Indianapolis. Her focus is reporting on the climate, environment and weather ... Read more