Paul Gosar became visibly 'afraid' during Jan. 6 — despite his call to 'conquer the Hill'

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) was among the Republicans who talked big on Jan. 6, 2021 — but behind closed doors he was visibly afraid, according to Liz Cheney's new book.

In "Oath and Honor," former Rep. Cheney (R-WY) describes Gosar as standing at the podium speaking when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was rushed out of the chamber. Quickly, others in the House leadership were escorted out. Gosar was left standing at the podium, dumbstruck.

“Once we conquer the Hill — Donald Trump is returned to being the president," Gosar had said earlier to a cheering crowd.

But as the attackers began banging on the doors of the House Chamber and Capitol Police instructed lawmakers to put on their gas masks, Gosar seemed paralyzed with fear, Cheney said.

"I had not been aware that there were gas masks under the seats in the House chamber," writes Cheney in her book. "I reached under my seat and pulled out a black pouch. Inside the pouch was a box that contained another bag. I tore open the bag and took out the rescue hood inside.

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"I looked up to see Gosar, still standing in front of the podium where he’d been delivering remarks. Now he was afraid, and fumbling with his gas mask."

“How do you open this?” Cheney recalled the far-right lawmaker repeating over and over.

She grabbed the pouch, opened it, and handed it back to him.

Less than an hour before, Gosar had been repeating "all kinds of unproven allegations, none of which had gone anywhere in the Arizona lawsuits." He promoted the conspiracy theory that 400,000 ballots had been "altered" or "switched" from Trump to Joe Biden.

"If Gosar really believed there was enough fraud in the Arizona election to overturn it and throw out millions of votes, I wondered how he could have voted — as he did less than 72 hours earlier — to recognize his own victory and officially seat himself," Cheney writes.

Gosar was later named by "Stop the Steal" group leader Ali Alexander as being among the four lawmakers "who came up with a January 6 event. It was to build momentum and pressure."

“I’m considered the most dangerous man in Congress,” Gosar bragged to an Arizona Trump rally crowd.

But according to Cheney, that confidence quickly disappeared on Jan. 6.

You can read more of Raw Story's coverage of Liz Cheney's book here.