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Rusty Bowers, the Republican speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, who lost his seat this month to a political opponent backed by former President Donald Trump, said that his party has become "all revenge" and "all anger."
Bowers' comments came in an interview with The Guardian that was published on Sunday. The Arizona lawmaker lost his reelection after he broke with the ex-president, and testified before the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot about how Trump and his legal team allegedly called him to discuss a plot to overturn the state's election results.
Following his testimony, Bowers was censured by the Arizona Republican Party, which called on GOP voters "to replace him at the ballot box in the August primary." Trump endorsed Bowers' opponent, former Arizona state Senator David Farnsworth, who won the race.
When asked if the Republican Party in Arizona was "lost," Bowers said: "They've invented a new way. It's a party that doesn't have any thought. It's all emotional, it's all revenge. It's all anger. That's all it is."
He also described the "clown circus" of Trump allies who had asked him to help overturn the 2020 election results, and said he believes the Constitution is "hanging by a thread."
"The funny thing is, I always thought it would be the other guys. And it's my side. That just rips at my heart: that we would be the people who would surrender the Constitution in order to win an election. That just blows my mind," Bowers said, who ultimately refused to overturn the state's election results.
"I said, 'Oh, wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait. So now, you're asking me to overthrow the vote of the people of Arizona?" he added, and said he told Trump's team: "I took an oath to the American Constitution, the state constitution and its laws. Which one of those am I supposed to break?"
In response to a request for comment from Newsweek, a spokesperson for the Republican Party of Arizona said: "This story is a complete fabrication and shows ignorance of the truth and it shows the willingness of where press to lie to and mislead the public in order to achieve an anti-American agenda."
"When an elected Republican champions Democrat priorities, he or she can expect to face electoral challenges. And We the People will hold them accountable at the ballot box," the party added.
Leading up to his primary election defeat, Trump took aim at Bowers.
"Rusty Bowers, he's a RINO ['Republican in name only'] coward who participated against the Republican Party in the totally partisan unselect committee of political thugs and hacks the other day, and disgraced himself, and he disgraced the state of Arizona," Trump told a crowd at a rally in Prescott, Arizona, in July, according to ABC News, following the Arizona lawmaker's cooperation with the January 6 committee.
Newsweek has also reached out to Trump's press office.
About the writer
Xander Landen is a Newsweek weekend reporter. His focus is often U.S. politics, but he frequently covers other issues including ... Read more