Arizona Republican calls cops on cookie-bearing constituents -- then claims they set cars on fire

A group of constituents desperate to meet with Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) brought cookies as a friendly gesture. It had the opposite effect, however, and Schweikert called the police. Now he is begging for money, saying that the cookie-bearing constituents engaged in a "violent clash" with police.

According to The Arizona Republic, the constituents appeared outside of his Scottsdale office with cookies hoping their congressman would hear their views.

“What has happened to our country and our democracy? At one time I could say democracy and mean OUR country, but no more,” said one member of the Indivisible group.

Now, Schweikert is taking the incident even further. In a campaign fundraising letter, Schweikert wrote, “The left is determined to disrupt and disorganize. They are organizing new groups every single day and investing big resources neighborhood-to-neighborhood across Maricopa County.”

He went on to describe the protesters, including the cookie-bearing constituents, as people who "will stop at no turn" and claimed they "clash with police, "incite violence" and "light cars on fire." No mention of the cookies, however.

A constituent of Schweikert’s contacted The Republic disputing the claims made in the letter.

“The people belonging to the groups referenced are mostly women, mostly have more than a few years on them ... The most dangerous physical weapons we have are knitting needles. But make no mistake ... We vote ... We are actively encouraging others to vote, and lots of us are educating ourselves on how politics works and running for office. Does this sound like people plotting violence? We are working within the system.”

Raw Story could find no reports of "inciting violence" nor "lighting cars on fire" by local media outlets.

Scottsdale Police Officer Kevin Watts told Raw Story via email, "There have been no reports of violence, clashes with our officers or incidents of criminal damage associated with Representative Schweikert’s office to date."

Democrats are targeting many Republicans in Arizona for the 2018 election, including Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Schweikert.

Click to make the letters larger:

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Letter from Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) to constituents (Scanned by AZCentral)[/caption]

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Page 2 of letter from Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) to constituents (Scanned by AZCentral)[/caption]