> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://utahpolitics.news/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Cannon calls Adams' cease-and-desist letter a 'press release' - URL: https://utahpolitics.news/tina-cannon-stuart-adams-cease-and-desist/ - Published: 2026-08-24T18:25:20.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-24T18:26:00.000Z - Description: The state auditor is refusing to retract statements about Senate President Stuart Adams, setting up a fight over Utah's anti-SLAPP protections if he follows through on his threat to sue. - Author: Bryan Schott - Tags: Tina Cannon, Stuart Adams, Legislature Utah State Auditor Tina Cannon is firing back at lame-duck Senate President Stuart Adams, who threatened legal action last week unless she retracted statements she made about him on a far-right podcast. Adams, through his attorney, [sent cease and desist letters to four people](https://utahpolitics.news/stuart-adams-legal-case-utah/), including Cannon, demanding retractions for statements he called defamatory. The two have been feuding for more than a year over his push to evict the auditor from her offices on the second floor of the Utah State Capitol so the Senate Republican caucus can carve out more space for part-time lawmakers. In a letter dated Aug. 21 and shared with Utah Political Watch, Cannon's attorney said Adams' cease-and-desist demand looked less like a legitimate legal threat and more like a media stunt, saying the letters appear to have been leaked to the press before they reached their intended recipients. “Your letter seems to have the press as an audience as it takes the form of an attempted ‘set the record straight’ opinion piece,” the letter says. “In fact, it appears your client was more interested in using the letter as a press release than as an attempt to resolve a dispute.” The response also scolds Adams for airing his grievances against Cannon publicly instead of pursuing other options. “Instead of using proper political means at his disposal, or even asking for a private one-on-one meeting with Auditor Cannon, your client chose the bully’s route,” the letter says. “Using an unrelated dispute with Auditor Cannon in an improper attempt to distract from Senator Adams’ political failings that resulted in his recent primary loss is improper.” Adams lost to Stephanie Hollist in June’s GOP primary. According to the letter from Adams' attorney, he objected to statements Cannon made during an appearance on a conspiracy-laden podcast about the effort to relocate her office, a dispute that has simmered between the two for more than a year. He also disputed Cannon's claim that he influenced legislation changing Utah's child rape laws after his step-granddaughter, then 18, [was charged with four felony counts](https://utahpolitics.news/after-sen-stuart-adams-backed-a-change-to-the-law-his-step-grandchild-got-a-plea-deal-in-child-rape-case/) for having sex with a 13-year-old boy. Cannon said the legislation "set the penalty for his granddaughter." The legislation was not retroactive and did not apply to his granddaughter, but the judge, prosecutors and defense attorneys all cited it as a major factor in her plea deal. She was initially charged with two counts of rape of a child and two counts of sodomy on a child, all first-degree felonies. She eventually pleaded guilty to second-degree felony aggravated assault and three misdemeanor counts of sexual battery. In 2024, months before Cannon was elected, lawmakers approved legislation to move the state auditor out of its second-floor Capitol offices. The bill required that the auditor be given "substantially similar space" elsewhere in the building. In the final days of the 2025 legislative session, [Republicans made an eleventh-hour change](https://utahpolitics.news/utahs-first-female-state-auditor-booted-from-capitol-in-legislative-land-grab/) that stripped the "substantially similar" requirement and moved the auditor's office elsewhere in the Capitol Hill complex. The revised bill also added the Utah Elections Office to the list of agencies being evicted from the second floor to make room for legislative offices. It failed to pass after pushback. In December 2025, [Cannon sued the Capitol Preservation Board](https://utahnewsdispatch.com/2025/12/15/utah-auditor-sued-over-plan-to-move-her-office-then-board-re-voted-to-dodge-her-challenge/?ref=utahpolitics.news), which oversees Capitol office space, alleging it violated Utah's open meetings law at a September meeting where it voted to move her office to the first floor. She claimed the board's agenda didn't disclose the relocation. She dropped the suit days later after the board held a revote to resolve the open meetings questions. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ff/05/ff054ad9-05eb-4301-bd7c-0d7e2e111eac/content/images/2026/07/Schott-subscribers-cover.jpg)](https://www.facebook.com/groups/1553632499770757) ****Beehive State Politics Facebook group** If you're looking for substantive discussion about Utah political news instead of the usual social media free-for-all, this is the group for you. [JOIN GROUP ](https://www.facebook.com/groups/1553632499770757) On the podcast, Cannon said Adams "controls" the Capitol Preservation Board. Adams' attorney countered that the board is a 12-person body that "is not governed or 'controlled' by a single individual, including Mr. Adams." Under statute, the governor or lieutenant governor chairs the board, while Adams and House Speaker Mike Schultz serve as vice chairs. Meeting records tell a much different story. Of 21 board meetings since January 2021, Adams has chaired more than half (57%), including four where the lieutenant governor, who by statute should have presided, was present. Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson attended eight meetings but chaired only five. Spencer Cox chaired one meeting in 2020 as lieutenant governor and oversaw the most recent meeting in May as governor; he also attended a December 2020 meeting that Adams chaired. Schultz chaired a single meeting in December 2021 because Adams was running late. Cannon's attorney said she would not comply with Adams' retraction demand, arguing her statements addressed public policy and her official duties and are legally protected. “In short, your protestations are hollow and without merit and it appears have failed to garner any sympathy in the press,” the letter reads. “Of course, if you proceed, we look forward to putting your client under oath for a thorough questioning of his claims and the role his own actions over the last several years played in his purported damages.” If Adams follows through and sues, Cannon's attorney said they would move to dismiss the claims under [Utah's Uniform Public Expression Protection Act](https://www.rcfp.org/anti-slapp-guide/utah/?ref=utahpolitics.news), the state's anti-SLAPP law, which protects statements "on a matter of public concern." "It is clear that any damages he has suffered, and there are likely none, are solely the result of his own actions, including those taken behind the scenes wielding influence as Senate President as reported in the press. Recent examples include his involvement with MIDA and the Box Elder County data center that has angered many voters." Uriah Kennedy and Ingrid Bettridge, the podcast’s hosts, also received letters from Adams demanding retractions. Both have [signaled on social media](https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1PSnFZUVGT/) that they do not intend to comply. Gabi Finlayson, a [political consultant with Elevate Utah](https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1HvWM61BQB/) and another target of Adams’ letters, has not said publicly how she plans to respond. 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