Former President Donald Trump’s campaign reportedly paid approximately $6,000 to an Arizona state representative while he lobbied the legislature to overturn President Biden’s election victory.
The re-election fund gave state Rep. Mark Finchem $6,037 on Dec. 18 through a business owned by the lawmaker called “Mrk Finchem PLLC” for “recount legal consulting,” according to financial disclosures obtained by the Arizona Republic. Finchem, who is a “legislative fellow in residence” at the University of Arizona, said the payment was a reimbursement “for crowd control and security costs” following a late November meeting with Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, at a local hotel.
Finchem, an outspoken booster of voter fraud claims that have been rejected by election officials and the courts, lobbied his state legislature to appoint new presidential electors, but the idea was shot down by his colleagues. The Republican also reportedly traveled to D.C. on Jan. 6, the day thousands of pro-Trump supporters sieged the U.S. Capitol.
Finchem, who was said to have been scheduled to speak at a nearby rally on the day of the riot, wrote in a now-deleted tweet, which was accompanied by a photograph of rioters on the steps of the Capitol, “What happens when the People feel they have been ignored, and Congress refuses to acknowledge rampant fraud.”
State Rep. César Chávez, a Democrat and colleague of Finchem, called for disciplinary action against him and said his actions “demonstrate beyond any doubt that he participated in the insurrection in Washington, D.C., and supported others in their efforts.”
Trump was impeached by the House last month on a charge of incitement of insurrection and faces a Senate trial, which his legal team argues is unconstitutional because their client is no longer in office, starting on Tuesday.
Biden won Arizona, long a Republican stronghold, by roughly 11,000 votes.
