Maricopa County attorneys have accused Maricopa County Republican Party officials of making false statements under oath in court.

We the People Alliance Arizona, an organization known for spreading conspiracies about the state's elections, filed a lawsuit against Maricopa County in 2022, seeking the names of election staff who handled ballots in the 2020 general election.

According to the lawsuit, the group sought documents related to temporary staff who verified signatures, as well as disciplinary records of temporary and permanent staff who were disciplined for failing to perform election-related duties.

According to court documents, the county provided some of the records but “withheld other records, citing the 'best interest of the state,'” including the names of election workers, which the county said it was withholding due to increased threats of violence against them.

Shelby Bush, chair of the Arizona People's Alliance and vice chair of the county's Republican Party, testified in court June 12 that she has “seen no actual evidence” of these threats.

In a motion filed Wednesday, Deputy County Attorney Joseph LaRue said the testimony is not true.

He cited a recently uncovered video of Bush saying he would lynch Republican Maricopa County Recorder Steven Richer, who is Jewish, at a March 20 election event after the man said he would support a candidate running for a Christian office.

“She herself had threatened to lynch Steven Richer because he was a devout Judaist and not a 'good Christian' running a 'good Christian-based campaign' with whom she could unite,” LaRue wrote.

Bush told KJZZ News in an email Thursday that the comment was intended as a joke.

“Everyone knows I hate Richer,” she said. “The comment was made in jest and in jest. I do not and will not tolerate violence against anyone. This was political hyperbole and was in no way intended as a threat of violence.”

“These vile words are no joke,” LaRue insisted.

“Even if the Court concludes that Mr. Bush's death threat to Commissioner Richer was a joke, it would not ultimately change the Court's analysis,” he wrote. “Mr. Bush stated that he would lynch Commissioner Richer if he entered the room in which he was speaking, a statement that could reasonably be interpreted as a threat.”

LaRue asked Judge Scott Blaney to consider the video as evidence and make an “appropriate assessment” of Bush's credibility as a witness.