Arizona Republican demolished for being ‘solely responsible’ for conspiracy theory risking mass violence

Arizona Senate President Karen Fann was blasted on Thursday after OAN broadcast contributor Pearson Sharp called for mass executions of Americans who rejected Donald Trump's false claims of voter fraud.

"We now approach the end game of Arizona's election audit which – in some minds, at least – is not just about exposing the (supposed) conspiracy to overthrow Donald Trump. Next up: Mass executions," Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts wrote on Monday.

"The Daily Beast reports a news personality from One America News Network is calling for the execution of potentially 'tens of thousands' of 'radical Democrats' he claims were involved in stealing the election in Arizona and elsewhere. This, from the far-right media outlet that is working as the official broadcast sponsor of the Arizona Senate's audit," she noted.

Roberts traced the threats of violence back to Arizona's state Senate leader pushing for the widely-condemned Arizona audit of votes in Maricopa County.

"It's bad enough that Senate President Karen Fann's 'unbiased, independent' auditors have teamed up with a fringe media outlet that has led the charge in peddling conspiracy theories, one whose reporter, Christina Bobb, is a former Trump administration official who is now raising money to help fund the audit. Now Arizona's audit partner, OAN, is airing a report telling us that potentially tens of thousands of 'radical Democrats' should be executed once the evidence of a 'coup' is unearthed in Arizona and in other audits that will follow," she explained. "Gee, and here I thought Fann told us the audit was simply about determining if Arizona's election laws need to be tightened."

Roberts declared Fann "solely responsible" for the situation.

"The nation of sane people, meanwhile, should be questioning just what it is that Fann has unleashed upon America. She, alone, is responsible for ordering an election audit despite no evidence of a problem here. She, alone, is responsible for turning Arizona into a laughingstock and for giving hope to Trump that he's going to be reinstated," Roberts wrote. "And now, for supplying oxygen to QAnon whack jobs who fantasize about summary executions of deep staters who organized the supposed coup. It's getting crazier and crazier across the country and it all starts with Arizona."