During the meeting recorded surreptitiously last March, Supervisor Steve Chucri suggested two fellow Republican county supervisors opposed the review by Senate Republicans because they nearly lost their own 2020 races. The secret recordings were published on the conservative website Gateway Pundit, which said they were recorded during a meeting on March 22 2021 with leaders from a group called We the People AZ Alliance as well as a Jan. 22 2021 phone call. Chucri apologized in a statement announcing his resignation and said he shouldn’t have made the comments, adding “the political landscape has changed for the worst this year.” Chucri said his comments about his colleagues are being wrongly used to paint a picture “about a cover-up, scam and other nonsense,” and he vouched for the accuracy of the results. “There was no cover-up, the election was not stolen,” Churci said. “Biden won.” Chucri’s resignation is effective Nov. 5 2021. He in his third term representing the eastern portion of Maricopa County, the nation’s fourth largest and home to the Phoenix metropolitan area. While in office, Chucri has remained the head of the Arizona Restaurant Association, an influential lobbying group.