Former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers interviewed by FBI on 2020 election probe
Jul 7, 2023, 8:22 AM | Updated: 8:26 am
Rusty Bowers (2nd L), former Arizona House Speaker, arrives for the fourth hearing on the January 6th investigation in the Cannon House Office Building on June 21, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
PHOENIX — Former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers said Thursday he spoke to the FBI a few months ago as a part of a criminal probe related to former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
“So for four hours-ish, we went downtown and they just very methodically went through all of my testimony,” Bowers told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Gaydos and Chad Show. “Testimony I gave on Jan. 6, stuff in the Republic, things that were in the Washington Post, other articles and interviews. They were very professional.”
Phone call with Trump, Giuliani
Bowers, a Republican who testified during a U.S. House Jan. 6 committee hearing last year, said he received pressure from Trump and his surrogates in multiple ways after the 2020 election.
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That included a call from Trump and attorney Rudy Giuliani.
“The president would say, ‘Give the man what he wants,'” Bowers said.
Bowers told them he needed proof of wrongdoing.
“If there was a problem here, I’ve got to see it,” he said. “I want the names on my desk of all the dead people, all the servicemen’s ballots that were stolen, their names. I want all the names of all the illegal aliens who voted, and they said, ‘Yeah we got it, we’ll give it to you.’ That’s what Giuliani was saying.”
“That was part of this ongoing — it’s not a drama, it’s almost like the gang that couldn’t shoot straight.”
What Mark Finchem wanted
The former House Speaker said another push came from then-Rep. Mark Finchem, who wanted to introduce a bill redo the 2020 election. Bowers wouldn’t go along with the plan.
“It was a referendum referring it to the ballot in the next election, and let the people decide if it was legit or not,” Bowers said.
“And I said, ‘We have a process; it’s called voting.’ You go out and you give your best shot. Everybody else does the same.”
Finchem went on to run for secretary of state in 2022. He won the Republican primary but lost to Democrat Adrian Fontes by more than 120,000 votes in the general election.
