Jon Stewart interviews Mark Brnovich, who wants to have it both ways. It doesn't go well

How do you get Mark Brnovich, the attorney general of Arizona, not to answer?

Ask him a question.

At least that’s what happened when Jon Stewart interviewed him.

When Stewart was the host of “The Daily Show,” he famously called Arizona the “meth lab of democracy.”

This was, somehow, worse.

But also better. Stewart’s interview is a great example of not giving up, no matter how elusive Brnovich tries to be. Stewart’s improvement in this regard is remarkable.

He interviewed Brnovich for an episode of his Apple TV+ show “The Problem,” which is scheduled to drop Friday, Oct. 28. In a 3-minute clip the network tweeted, Stewart tries mightily to get Brnovich to simply say that the 2020 election was neither stolen nor fraudulent.

And Brnovich just won’t do it.

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Stewart is relentless in questioning Brnovich about the 2020 election

The clip begins with Brnovich saying his office is investigating “almost 20 criminal cases” of election fraud.

“Out of 4 million votes,” Stewart points out.

Brnovich then resorts to a popular excuse among election deniers, Fox News hosts, etc. — trying to turn it into a popularity contest.

“The reality is there are millions of people, not only in Arizona, but people throughout this country, that think the election was stolen,” Brnovich says.

If you think Stewart was going to let that slide, you’ve never seen him.

“There’s people who believe in angels, but that doesn’t mean you launch an investigation that angels changed ballots,” he says.

Don’t give anyone in Arizona any more ideas, man.

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Brnovich: 'I've always been a straight shooter.' Stewart: 'Ha'

There is, of course, no credible evidence that the election was stolen or in any way rigged or fraudulent. This hasn’t prevented Arizona Republicans from launching an expensive, fruitless audit, or from some candidates making the claim that Joe Biden somehow stole the election from Donald Trump a central part of their campaigns.

Brnovich was a candidate for U.S. Senate himself, but Blake Masters out-Trumped him and won the Republican primary, though it wasn’t for lack of Brnovich trying to please the former president.

Stewart gives Brnovich plenty of chances to say the election was conducted fairly.

“When you get it to ground (after the investigations) will you come out and say, ‘Donald J. Trump is wrong? The election in Arizona was fair, not stolen and not fraudulent?’” Stewarts asks.

“I’ve always been a straight shooter,” Brnovich says; Stewart laughs out loud in response.

Stewart continues, saying Brnovich has found no evidence the election was stolen. Brnovich agrees.

“Donald Trump lost Arizona, period,” he says. “I’ve said that from the very beginning.”

Sounds almost like an answer. Unfortunately, Brnovich continued, bringing up his office’s investigations of election fraud in an election that took place nearly two years ago.

“There have been isolated incidents thus far that we’ve identified and we have prosecuted,” he says. “We still have some active investigations going on. But people can draw their own conclusions.”

Uh-oh.

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'Why is it so hard to just say' the election wasn't stolen?

“No, people cannot draw their own conclusions,” Stewart, looking somewhat amazed, says. “That’s the point of the law. The law is that you have facts and that you have fiction. The fact is, the election in Arizona was well-run, not fraudulent and not stolen from Donald Trump, according to even your investigation.

“Why is it so hard to just say yes to that?”

Why, indeed? Bvnovich says it’s because there are still ongoing cases.

“So in your mind, you still feel like, after all this, you’re going to discover a concerted effort to steal the election from Donald Trump and that it is fraudulent — is that what you’re saying?” Stewart says.

It is not. Brnovich says.

“So why can’t you say the election in 2020 was not stolen or fraudulent?”

“I will tell you this, this is what I said. …”

With that, Stewart cuts him off.

“This is blowing my mind,” he says.

Welcome to the club.

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Where to watch 'The Problem with Jon Stewart'

Stream on Apple TV+. New episodes drop every Friday.

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk. Subscribe to the weekly movies newsletter.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Mark Brnovich can't answer on 'The Problem with Jon Stewart'