One of Donald Trump's key advisors pushed Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers to advance a bill to erase the 2020 election results, The Arizona Republic reported Wednesday.
"In a Feb. 11 call, Boris Epshteyn, a lawyer and former special assistant to Trump, pointed again to baseless claims of widespread election fraud as he tried without success to rally support for a vote on a bill by state Republican Rep. Mark Finchem to set aside the results in three Arizona counties, Bowers told The Arizona Republic’s political podcast The Gaggle during a wide-ranging interview this week," the newspaper reported.
Finchem, who praised the Jan. 6 insurrection, is running for Secretary of State in Arizona on a platform of Trump's "big lie" of election fraud. In 2018, Finchem spread conspiracy theories about so-called "MAGA bomber" Cesar Sayoc, who pleaded guilty to 65 felony counts after mail pipe bombs to Trump critics.
Speaker Bowers revealed what he said to Epshteyn when asked why he would not advance Finchem's legislation.
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“I said, ‘Because I think it’s a slap in the face of the people of Arizona. It’s a slap in the face of the House of Representatives that we’re going to decertify and take away the sovereign vote of 3.5 million people based on no proof that I’ve ever seen,'” Bowers explained.
He also said he is still waiting for Rudy Giuliani to substantiate his allegations of fraud.
“I said, ‘Right. Send me their names. Send me their names,’” Bowers said. “Rudy didn’t send them. Finchem’s never produced them. Where are they? Where is this proof? It’s been only 15 months. How long do I got to wait?”
In a statement to the newspaper, Epshteyn did not substantiate his debunked allegations of fraud, but instead claimed the resolution takes action regarding "what is widely known as fact, that the 2020 election in Arizona was rigged and stolen from President Trump."
Epshteyn has been subpoenaed by the House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"The outreach from Epshteyn is a reminder of Finchem’s close connections to Trump’s political network, and of the continued efforts by Trump’s supporters to recast the 2020 election resultsThe outreach from Epshteyn is a reminder of Finchem’s close connections to Trump’s political network, and of the continued efforts by Trump’s supporters to recast the 2020 election results," the newspaper reported. "Epshteyn, a strategic adviser on Trump’s 2020 campaign, has acknowledged he was part of the pro-Trump effort to set up 'alternate electors' in key states, which involved transmitting certificates to the federal government that indicated a Trump victory where Biden was the certified winner."
Read the full report.
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