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Former President Donald Trump denounced Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers as a “RINO” for agreeing to appear before the House select Jan. 6 committee’s fourth public hearing Tuesday.
Trump recalled an alleged conversation with Bowers in which the speaker told the president that the election was “rigged” and needled that Bowers “should hope there’s not a tape of the conversation.”
JAN. 6 COMMITTEE NABS UNSEEN FOOTAGE OF TRUMP AND ALLIES BEFORE THE CAPITOL RIOT
“In November 2020, Bowers thanked me for getting him elected,” Trump said in a statement released by the Save America PAC. “He said he would have lost, and in fact expected to lose, if I hadn’t come along. During the conversation, he told me that the election was rigged and that I won Arizona. He said he got more votes than I did which could never have happened.”
“In fact, he said without me, he would have been out of office, and he expected to be prior to my coming along, and big Arizona rallies. The night before the election he walked outside with his wife and saw the tremendous Trump enthusiasm and told her, ‘You know what? Maybe I will win after all’ and he did,” Trump continued.
Bowers is one of the witnesses on the first panel slated to testify during Tuesday’s hearing. The theme of the hearing is how Trump and his allies pressured key state officials into challenging the 2020 election.
The speaker received a call from the White House in late November, after the election, Arizona Central reported. Trump and his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, were on the line and stressed that under Arizona law, the legislature could select the state’s electors for the presidential election, effectively overruling the voters, according to the outlet.
In response, Bowers demanded proof and has maintained he never received it. He refused to go along with Trump’s apparent request. The former president had lost the state to then-candidate Joe Biden by roughly 10,000 votes.
“You are giving me nothing but conjecture and asking me to break my oath and commit to doing something I cannot do because I swore I wouldn’t. I will follow the Constitution,” Bowers replied, according to the outlet.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
In April, Bowers received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage award for standing his ground and not ceding to demands from Trump’s allies. In February, he also blocked legislation that would have given the state legislature power to overrule election results.
Bowers will be accompanied by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Gabriel Sterling, Raffensperger’s top deputy, during the first panel.
