75°
65º | 79°
Texas heads into October under continued pressure from former President Donald Trump to widen the state's already underway 2020 election audit, which Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo has denounced as "a sham."
In parts of his letter to Gov. Greg Abbott first published in The Texas Tribune Wednesday, Sept. 29, Trump told the governor that it would be "a big mistake for Texas" to not pass audit legislation, House Bill 16, introduced by Rep. Steve Toth (R-The Woodlands) on Sept. 8.
"By allowing the Democrats to do what they do, it will make it much harder for the governor and other Republicans to win election in 2022 and into the future," Trump told Abbott. "Texas is a much redder state than anyone knows, but this is the way to make sure it turns blue."
Trump's threats are among the latest developments in his continuing efforts to take back the presidency after losing his bid for a second term during last November's General Election.
Undaunted by far-right Arizona Republicans' failed efforts to prove Trump's "big lie" that he actually won, Texas Republicans last month moved ahead with an audit of the 2020 election results. The "full forensic audit" would cover Harris County and the state's three other largest counties, Collin, Dallas and Tarrant, the Texas Secretary of State's office said in a Sept. 23 statement.
"We anticipate the Legislature will provide funds for this purpose," the office said in its statement, a clear reference to Texan taxpayers' money.
The statement closely followed Trump's earlier request to Abbott for HB 16 to be placed on the state legislature's third special session agenda and "get to the bottom of the 2020 Presidential Election scam!"
Hidalgo responded to the Secretary of State's office's statement and its admission that the audit actually has been going on for months with a Sept. 28 Twitter post that said, "We need answers."
The Twitter post linked to a lengthy Sept. 27 letter from Harris County Attorney Christian D. Menefee demanding 14 points of information from the Secretary of State's office under the Public Information Act about the audit.
The same day as her Twitter post, Hidalgo presented during a commissioners court meeting a resolution denouncing the audit and called for a bipartisan stand against it, according to ABC13's coverage of the evolving story.
Hidalgo said a "loud and clear" acknowledgment should be sent that "Harris County recognizes what a sham this is" and that the county is opposed to it.
"The audit here was announced after Trump asked for an audit as if he were running the state," Hidalgo said. "Its intention is to undermine faith in the election processes, which we in Harris County are very proud of."
She also urged the state legislature to deny funds anticipated by the Secretary of State's office for the audit.
"The message that the Texas secretary of state put out had a sentence that insinuated that the legislature would pay for it, so that is why I'm calling on legislators to not fund the audit," Hidalgo said. "When I say 'legislature,' it's taxpayer dollars."