March 28, 2024 9:14 AM
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Trump endorses GOP rival to Jan. 6 witness Rusty Bowers – Associated Press

Photo: Republican state Sen. David Farnsworth urges members to reject a move to adjourn the legislative session as GOP Sen. Vince Leach looks on

Donald Trump on Wednesday endorsed the Republican running against Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, who last week gave powerful testimony to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Bowers, who is blocked by term limits from seeking another term in the Arizona House, is running for an open seat in the state Senate. Trump praised his GOP primary rival, former Sen. David Farnsworth, for supporting the lie that the 2020 election was marred by fraud.

“Bowers must be defeated, and highly respected David Farnsworth is the man to do it,” Trump said in his endorsement. “He will straighten things out and secure your Border.”

In his testimony last week, Bowers walked through what started with a Trump phone call on a Sunday after he returned from church. The defeated president laid out a proposal to have the state replace its electors for President Joe Biden with others favoring Trump.

“I said, ‘Look, you’re asking me to do something that is counter to my oath, ‘” Bowers testified.

Bowers insisted on seeing Trump’s evidence of voter fraud, which he said Trump’s team never produced beyond vague allegations. He recalled Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani later told him, “We’ve got lots of theories, we just don’t have the evidence.”

Bowers earned national acclaim with his folksy recitation of the pressure he faced from Trump and his allies, including angry and noisy protests outside his home as his adult daughter lay dying inside from an extended illness.

His performance also drew scorn from Trump allies. Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward tweeted her own support for Farnsworth the next day.

Bowers said in an interview with The Associated Press that day that he thinks the voters will back him because of his honesty.

“Frankly, we feel good that this will will bring out a large independent group who finally see somebody that they feel they can put some confidence in as Republicans” Bowers said. “I think that’s our strongest part.”

The Legislature’s 2022 session ended last week and early ballots will be mailed out next week for the Aug. 2 primary. Bowers said he’s focused on winning the seat in the east Phoenix suburb of Mesa.

He said the voters will decide whether it is him or Farnsworth they want in the state Senate.

“But it’s not David Farnsworth — it’s Donald Trump,” Bowers said. “David is just a surrogate. And if they want Donald Trump in this position, they they should vote for David.”

Bowers did make some waves when he told the AP before he testified in Washington last week that he would vote for Trump again if the choice were between him and President Joe Biden.

That comment ended up in national headlines, since it came in the same interview where he called the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election unconstitutional. He said that Trump’s actions have hurt the nation and created distrust in elections, which he said are fair.

He has worked to clarify that remark since it was published. He told the AP that he’s even more opposed to Trump after appearing before the commission investing the Jan. 6 attack on Congress. He said he was floored while hearing first hand what Trump did to other officials, including pushing Georgia Secretary of State Brad Brad Raffensperger to find the 11,000 votes Trump would need to reverse is loss in the Peach state.

“I want a robust, open, fair, honest primary election, and I want choices other than Donald J. Trump,” Bowers said. “And there are some great choices available, and I hope we can get them over a finish line and not him.”

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5 Responses

  1. Rusty Bowers doesn’t have a positive resume from connected conservatives I have spoken to. As for evidence of fraud in the 2020 election; it appears a REAL court trial would prove a variety of illegal acts took place. In a Michigan county, Dominion machines were programed to under count Trump votes and over count Biden votes. Surveillance videos in Atlanta showed votes counted 4 times AFTER poll observers were sent out over a flooding scare. Also thousands of affidavit’s from witnesses to fraud in all 6 swing states. No, there was evidence but without an official federal trial, proof has not been declared. Rusty Bowers is a part of the old McCain machine in Arizona. The same people who attempted to steal the database of Prescott Tea Party members. Defeat Rusty Bowers August 2nd.

    1. So, Rusty Bowers tells the truth to a congressional committee and now he is toast in the AZ Republican party. Do you not see the problem with that. Also, the reason there are no court cases to “prove” organized election fraud is because there is no evidence to take to court. 100 affidavits and 3 bucks still won’t get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks. There is no evidence, you can not provide any evidence, yet here you are spouting gibberish about unsubstantiated claims. You are hurting our democracy by not supporting the rule of law!

  2. The odds are 144 to 10 that Rusty Bowers loses.

    For those that are curious, that’s the Win-Loss record for Trump-endorsed candidates.

    But of course, the media clowns at AP and other fake news outlets say that Trump is losing his influence with Constitutional Conservatives. Yeah right. The numbers don’t lie.

  3. Woo, woooooo, here comes The Clue Train, next stop is the ill-informed, self-serving subset of the American population that keeps shouting over and over and over:

    (FILL IN THE BLANK) IS/ARE A THREAT TO OUR DEMOCRACY!!!

    It just never ends. CNNLOL, MSNBC, Hillary Clinton, Sleepy Joe, Chuck Schumer, The Clown Squad and the entire crew of Violent Radical Left Cash Grabbers drone on endlessly about SAVING OUR DEMOCRACY! Give it a rest, why dontcha?

    FACT: AMERICA IS NOT A DEMOCRACY. Our system is not “majority rule”. If that were the case, all it would take is 50% + 1 vote to enslave every honest hard-working person in the country and steal all their money.

    FACT: America is a Constitutional Republic with rights that simply cannot be taken away by any size of majority.

    FACT: The Violent Radical Left Cash Grabbers want to destroy our Constitutional Republic and take over all political power and steal everyone’s money. Thankfully, our Founding Fathers understood human greed and human’s lust for control over others and gave us a system that keeps the parasites at bay.

  4. Here are a few facts for misinformed individuals to consider.

    1) Conclusions drawn from more than a Petabyte of geo-location data are strong evidence of electoral theft.
    2) Videos showing people stuffing ballots into a ballot box are strong evidence of electoral theft.
    3) Photos showing people stuffing ballots into a ballot box are strong evidence of electoral theft.
    4) The standard VRLCG phrase “there were irregularities, but they wouldn’t have changed the outcome” is 100% Vermont-made, self-serving nonsense.

    CONCLUSION: The Violent Radical Left Cash Grabbers, supported by easily-manipulated fools, STOLE THE 20202 ELECTION.

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