Former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R) confirmed on Wednesday that he spoke to the FBI as part of an ongoing investigation into attempts to nullify the presidential election in 2020.
Bowers told CNN’s Kaitlin Collins that he was interviewed for about four hours a few months ago as part of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump and his allies’ efforts after he lost the race. 2020 against Joe Biden. The revelation adds new context to the Justice Department’s investigation and suggests a broad scope for any potential charges that could encompass misconduct in multiple states.
In a separate case, Trump was charged last month with 37 federal charges related to his handling of classified documents.
“I’m hesitant to talk about subpoenas, etc. But I’ve been questioned by the FBI,” Bowers said on Wednesday. He noted that investigators’ questions made him think their investigation was broad, although he said he offered “nothing new”.
“There is a lot of information about the lawyers who work with them. About Mr. Giuliani who made the calls and visited us. And other members of [Trump’s] team, who they were, when the meetings were held, what was discussed at those meetings or at that meeting,” he added. “And so I assume they’re all involved.” How does this shake as threshold evidence? I don’t know. I just dab with a brush.
Bowers testified before lawmakers last year that he rejected the president’s efforts, led at the time by Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s former personal attorney, to alter the results of the presidential election in Arizona despite the lack of evidence of widespread electoral fraud.
“I said, ‘Look, you’re asking me to do something that’s against my oath when I swore to the Constitution to uphold it, and I also swore to the Constitution and the laws of Arizona State,'” Bowers said. he told Giuliani, according to his testimony before the House select committee that investigated the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. “It’s totally alien as an idea or a theory, to me, and I would never do anything of such magnitude without thorough consultation with qualified attorneys.”
The CNN interview comes just a week after The Washington Post detailed Trump’s attempts to pressure Arizona Governor Doug Ducey (R) to rescind the 2020 results in the state. Trump reportedly called Ducey in hopes the governor would help back up his bogus allegations of voter fraud. Ducey did not, and he certified the state election results on November 30, 2020.
The effort bears striking similarities to Trump’s attempts to overturn Georgia’s election results. The then-president called Georgian Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) in the final days of his administration, urging the official to help him “find” additional votes that would see him defeat Biden.
This call is also the focus of an investigation in Fulton County, Georgia.
Smith was reportedly set to indict decisions in the probe into efforts to nullify the 2020 election. Investigators have interviewed or subpoenaed a slew of people in Trump’s orbit in recent months, including Giuliani , Raffensperger and other election officials in Arizona.