Watchdog calls for ethics probes
Request targets Biggs, Gosar over Capitol riot
After the riot at the U.S. Capitol, a left-leaning government watchdog organization has asked for ethics and criminal investigations of three members of Congress that include Arizona Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar.
The request filed Friday by the Campaign for Accountability alleges the Republican members may have incited a riot and brought discredit to Congress, among other potential violations of federal law and the rules of the House of Representatives.
The Washington-based group seeks an investigation by the Office of Congressional Ethics, which screens cases for the House Ethics Committee, as well as criminal investigations by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section.
The group also seeks similar investigations of freshman Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., who, like Biggs and Gosar, addressed pro-Trump groups claiming election fraud and also said he had a firearm with him at the Capitol on Jan. 6, which could run afoul of gun laws in Washington.
Five people died in the melee at the Capitol, including a police officer.
The request does not mean any of the House members will face any investigation, but it adds to the sentiment already expressed by other members of Congress from both parties that anyone proven to be involved in the riot should face significant consequences, including prosecution.
“Representatives Biggs, Gosar and Cawthorn deliberately misled Trump supporters and actively encouraged them to believe they could stop the certification of the election results,” said Michelle Kuppersmith, executive director of the Campaign for Accountability.
“Their words helped light the match, resulting in death and destruction at the U.S. Capitol. No elected official should ever use their platform instigate the subversion of our democratic process. Members of Congress who don’t believe in democracy need to find another line of work. Their colleagues should expel them, allowing them to find more suitable positions outside of government.”
In a written statement, Daniel Stefanski, a Biggs spokesperson, reiterated that he was not a protest organizer, and only raised issues of election integrity.
“Our office has been crystal clear from the beginning that Rep. Biggs had nothing to do with the events outside of the U.S. Capitol on January 6. He did not organize or participate in any way in rallies or protests for January 6,” Stefanski said.
“He was solely focused on his preparation to debate issues of election integrity on the House floor that morning, which was consistent with congressional Democrats’ attempts during previous Electoral College counts. He did nothing wrong, and he has nothing to hide. The left and the mainstream media will not be able to distract Rep. Biggs from his work, nor silence his conservative voice based on blatantly false allegations.”
Gosar could not be reached for comment.
While they have been in agreement in denouncing the election results, especially in Arizona, Biggs and Gosar had different roles in the period after the election and ahead of the Jan. 6 certification of results in Congress.
Biggs has strenuously maintained he didn’t participate in planning or organizing the pro-Trump rallies that gathered in Arizona and in Washington. He questioned the election process and called for a forensic audit of the state’s election equipment.
By contrast, Gosar repeatedly used social media to tout the “Stop the Steal” rallies in Arizona and in Washington on Jan. 6. He has said Biden’s victory was “illegitimate” and participated in protests beginning while ballots were still being counted and continued until at least late December.
Ali Alexander, the man who claims to have organized “Stop the Steal,” said in a video ahead of the Jan. 6 protest that Biggs and Gosar, along with Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., were most instrumental in making it happen.
“I was the person who came up with the Jan. 6 idea with Congressman Gosar, Congressman Mo Brooks, and Congressman Andy Biggs,” Alexander said in a videotaped message on social media. “We four schemed up of putting maximum pressure on Congress while they were voting, so that who we couldn’t lobby we could change the hearts and the minds of Republicans who were in that body hearing our loud roar from outside.”
Biggs has denied working with Alexander.
“It just didn’t happen,” he said last week while talking on Arizona’s conservative talk radio programs. “I knew there was going to be ... a couple of rallies there that day, but I did not participate and didn’t organize and did not attend.”
Gosar has not commented on his involvement.
He spoke at a Dec. 19 rally with Alexander in Phoenix. Biggs taped a message Alexander played for the crowd that day, but his spokesman said it had been provided to Gosar’s aides at the request of Gosar’s team.
On Jan. 6, Gosar formally objected to certifying Arizona’s election results and he and Biggs argued their position on the floor of the House. Gosar’s remarks were interrupted by the mob’s invasion of the Capitol.
When the building was cleared hours later, both men voted to set aside results from Arizona and Pennsylvania.
The Campaign for Accountability largely builds its case against Biggs and Gosar based on social media posts and media accounts.
“By working with Ali Alexander to promote the Stop the Steal gathering, repeatedly claiming that the presidential election had been ‘stolen’ from President Trump, and by claiming the House of Representatives could and should refuse to certify the legitimate election results, Representatives Biggs and Gosar appear to have assisted in the insurrection against the authority of the United States,” the complaint said.
This isn’t the first complaint made against Biggs and Gosar. Arizona Democrats sent a letter Jan. 19 to acting U.S. Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and FBI Director Christopher Wray calling for an investigation into potential acts of sedition and treason by Arizona Republicans.
Democrats say there is evidence Biggs, Gosar and state Reps. Mark Finchem and Anthony Kern “encouraged, facilitated, participated and possibly helped plan this anti-democratic insurrection on January 6.”
The letter offers no evidence that the four lawmakers were involved in the breach of the Capitol or led efforts outside.
According to the complaint, Cawthorn helped incite crowds before Jan. 6 and again in a rally on that day in Washington.
“My friends, the Democrats with all the fraud that they have done in this election, the Republicans (are) hiding and not fighting, they are trying to silence your voice,” he said on Jan. 6.
“Make no mistake about it, they do not want you to be heard. But my friends when I look into this crowd I can confidently say this crowd has the voice of lions. There is a new Republican Party on the rise that will represent this country that will go and fight in Washington, D.C.”
On Dec. 21, Cawthorn urged a Florida crowd at a Student Action Event for Phoenix-based Turning Point USA, they needed to “lightly threaten” members of Congress over the election.
“So, everybody, I’m telling you, I’m encouraging you, please get on the phone. Call your congressman, and feel free, you can lightly threaten them, and say, ‘You know what? If you don’t start supporting election integrity, I’m coming after you, Madison Cawthorn is coming after you. Everybody’s coming after you,’” he said to the thousands in attendance.
In an interview with the Smoky Mountain News, Cawthorn, who uses a wheelchair, said he was armed while being evacuated from the Capitol.
“Working with Capitol police, we figured out a way how we could make that more inclusive of the members who have disability problems,” he said. “But because I had to take another route, we didn’t have our Capitol police escort, so there were multiple times we needed to change the route we were taking just to be safe. Fortunately, I was armed, so we would have been able to protect ourselves.”
The Campaign for Accountability has already filed similar complaints against Brooks and Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo. The nonprofit organization is nonpartisan, but has focused much of its efforts against Republicans.