“The media generally cannot get enough of writing about right-wing nutcases in the House Republican caucuses, yet somehow Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar, D.D.S., seems to fly under the radar relative to Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Louie Gohmert, or Lauren Boebert. But Gosar is probably the most far-gone nativist member in Congress. No one in Congress was more devoted to the “Stop the Steal” cause, for which he organized rallies.
“'Once we conquer the Hill,' Gosar said at a December rally in Arizona, 'Donald Trump is returned to being president.' He got the first part right, at least, on Jan. 6.
“In February, Gosar was the only sitting member of Congress to speak at a white nationalist event, the America First Political Action Conference, after which the crowd chanted his name.
“And just recently, Gosar, along with Greene, was busted after an early platform draft for their proposed 'America First Caucus,' rife with nativist dog whistles about preserving 'Anglo-Saxon political traditions' (in the section about immigration) and restoring the 'architectural, engineering and aesthetic value that befits the progeny of European architecture.' Gosar denied authorship of the memo, and the proposed caucus fizzled out faster than the soccer super league.
“If you think of Greene as the person who reads baffling nativist conspiracies online and shares them on Facebook, think of Gosar as the reply guy in the comments saying you didn’t know this? His own family hates him, and he hates the pope. He maintains his membership on the Natural Resources Committee, as well as the Oversight and Reform Committee.”
– Jim Newell, “The Surge” Paul Gosar, The Worst Member of Congress,” Slate
Paul Anthony Gosar is an American politician and former dentist who has served as the U.S. Representative for Arizona's 4th congressional district since 2013. The Arizona Republic has called Gosar "Arizona's most controversial member of Congress." This distinction may now extend past rural northwestern Arizona to the nation as a whole.
The fact that Gosar has been at the center of the national controversy has been very personal for his siblings – six who had been vocal in urging voters not to re-elect him to Congress because of his fringe views. Now, some want him removed from office, and they criticize Democratic leadership for not acting more quickly.
Two of his estranged siblings told NBC News in interviews that the congressman's conduct around the riot should be investigated and that he should face more serious consequences for his ongoing efforts to delegitimize the election results and the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"I consider him a traitor to this country. I consider him a traitor to his family," Gosar's brother, Dave, a Wyoming attorney, said. "He doesn't see it. He's disgraced and dishonored himself."
Dave Gosar, one of the more outspoken members of the family, said his falling out with his brother began soon after his brother ran for office in 2010 and "revealed to me that he was a birther," promoting the false idea that then-President Barack Obama was not born in the U.S.
Family members decided to speak out in 2017 after Gosar suggested that the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a counterprotester was killed, was a false flag – that the event was actually the product of sympathetic actors seeking to hurt conservative causes.
Jennifer Gosar, the youngest of the congressman's nine siblings, told NBC News she's confident her brother played a significant role in the effort that culminated in the Capitol riot.
"I was concerned before," Jennifer Gosar, a Seattle-based Spanish translator, said of the riot. "I was horrified during, and I'm shocked that he's not censured now, that there hasn't been a process for expulsion. I mean, I think all the elements are clear. And maybe there's something I'm missing, but they're not acting on it to really allay any fears of the public."
(Allan Smith. “Gosar's siblings want their brother kicked out of Congress. They think Democrats are moving too slow.” NBC News. June 28, 2021)
What About January 6?
Gosar repeatedly spoke at “Stop the Steal” events, claiming without basis that then-President-elect Biden was an "illegitimate usurper" and that Trump was the victim of an attempted coup.
In December after the election, right-wing political activist and organizer Ali Alexander said that he, Gosar, Biggs, and Representative Mo Brooks were "planning something big": a "mob" to pressure Congress into rejecting the election results.
For Jan. 6, Alexander claimed in a video, he had some organizing assistance from pro-Trump Reps. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), and Mo Brooks (R-AL).
"We four schemed up putting maximum pressure on Congress while they were voting,” Alexander said in a video posted before the Jan. 6 protest.
(Rob Kuznia, Curt Devine, Scott Bronstei. “Extremists intensify calls for violence ahead of Inauguration Day.” CNN. January 08, 2021.)
Gosar's office did not respond to media inquiries about this allegation. News outlets noted that Gosar's social media accounts had expressed support for Alexander in the past.
At Trump's rally before the riot, Gosar tweeted: "Biden should concede. I want his concession on my desk tomorrow morning. Don’t make me come over there."
In that tweet, he tagged the far-right activist Ali Alexander, who organized the "Stop the Steal" movement and with whom Gosar rallied elsewhere in an effort to overturn the election.
Weeks before the riot, Alexander told followers in a since-deleted video on Periscope that he, Gosar, and along with two other members, "schemed up [the idea] of putting maximum pressure on Congress while they were voting" on Jan. 6. to "change the minds of Republicans in that body hearing our loud roar from outside."
Gosar was one of the 139 representatives who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election in Congress on January 7, 2021, the day after the storming of the U.S. Capitol.
(Karen Yourish, Larry Buchanan; Denise Lu. "The 147 Republicans Who Voted to Overturn Election Results.” The New York Times. January 07, 2021.)
And, hours after the January 6 storming of the Capitol, during which one police officer and four marchers eventually died, Gosar was the first federally elected official to amplify a baseless conspiracy, and it took only three hours for him to get there.
Gosar said that antifa was to blame for the violence, a baseless theory also echoed by representatives Mo Brooks and Matt Gaetz.
(Teo Armus. “Rep. Matt Gaetz and other GOP politicians baselessly suggest antifa is to blame for pro-Trump mob rioting into Capitol.” The Washington Post. January 07, 2021.)
When Congress reconvened that night, the challenge to the Arizona vote had been rejected 6-93 in the Senate and 121-303 in the House. Gosar, Biggs and Debbie Lesko of Arizona voted to reject Arizona's vote results.
("Roll Call Vote 117th Congress – 1st Session: On the Objection (Shall the Objection Submitted by the Gentleman from Arizona, Mr. Gosar, and the Senator from Texas, Mr. Cruz, and Others Be Sustained? )". www.senate.gov. United States Senate. January 6, 2021.)
On January 19, 2021, the last day of the Trump administration, it was reported that Gosar and Biggs sought pardons from Trump. No pardons were granted to them or anyone else involved in the storming of the Capitol or the preceding "Save America" rally.
(Jim Small. "Biggs and Gosar sought pardons for Capitol riot, but didn't get them.” Arizona Mirror. January 19, 2021.)
On February 26, 2021, Gosar delivered the keynote speech at the America First Political Action Conference, a white nationalist conference whose organizer, Nick Fuentes, spoke approvingly of the Capitol storming. Gosar was the only elected official to attend the event, speaking after former congressman Steve King (R-Iowa), who lost a 2020 primary after party leaders abandoned him over a string of white-nationalist remarks.
After Gosar’s speech, Fuentes, who marched in the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville and was outside the Capitol with his supporters during the Jan. 6 riot, took the podium that warned that “white people are done being bullied.” Fuentes praised the fatal riot as “awesome,” describing it as “light-hearted mischief.”
Ironically, Gosar said that he opposed "white racism," hours after speaking at the far-right conference whose organizer spoke approvingly of the Capitol insurrection while delivering a white-nationalist speech.
“I want to tell you, I denounce . . . white racism,” Gosar said during a panel at the Conservative Political Action Conference. “That’s not appropriate.”
(David Weigel. “Rep. Gosar criticizes ‘white racism’ after speaking at event whose organizer called for white supremacy.” The New York Times. February 27, 2021.)
Long after the Capitol riot, Gosar has led the defense of those who stormed the Capitol, calling them "peaceful patriots" at a May 12 hearing. He has sought to paint Ashli Babbit, the rioter who was shot and killed by Capitol Police after attempting to breach an entrance near the House chamber as members and aides were fleeing, as a victim who was "executed." He added the unnamed officer was "lying in wait" for her.
Gosar said Babbitt, who was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer through a window of the House chamber, was not armed and was wrapped in a U.S. Flag.
“Was the death of Ashli Babbitt a homicide?” Mr. Gosar said, grilling former Trump administration officials at a hearing on the riot. “As the death certificate said, it was a homicide.”
(Alex Swayer. “Paul Gosar defends ‘executed’ Ashli Babbitt during Capitol riot hearing.” The Washington Times. May 12, 2021.)
Gosar joined 20 House Republicans in voting against awarding Congressional Gold Medals to the officers who defend the Capitol against the mob.
"On January 6, as the violent mob advanced on the House chamber, I was standing near @RepGosar and helped him open his gas mask. The Capitol Police led us to safety. It is disgusting and despicable to see Gosar lie about that day and smear the men and women who defended us," tweeted Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who was ousted from GOP leadership in May after she repeatedly rejected Trump's election lies.
(Annie Grayer and Kristin Wilson. “21 Republicans vote no on bill to award Congressional Gold Medal for January 6 police officers.” CNN. June 16, 202.)
Who Is the Real Paul Gosar?
Despite his claims of denial, Gosar is a lying, bigoted, racist, conspiracy-spreading White nationalist. For all of the reasons cited abover, Gosar is a traitor to the nation who should be expelled from Congress … just ask his own family.
For good measure of support, allow me to tack on some more. His long history of misconduct, spreading misinformation, and misguided leadership includes the following:
In December 2014, Gosar drew controversy when he referred to American Indians as "wards of the federal government.”
On August 12, 2019 Gosar retweeted a QAnon idea – “I have a tip. I think high level FBI agents may have colluded with British agents and Democrat operatives to initiate an illegal coup against @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS. I mean at least this bears a cursory review. Perhaps. Maybe.
On January 6, 2020, Gosar tweeted a doctored photograph that showed former President Barack Obama meeting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, with the caption: "The world is a better place without these guys in power.” The encounter never happened; the picture was a photoshopped version of one showing Obama meeting former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh.
On January 29, 2021, The New York Times detailed Gosar's support for and past ties with extremist militia groups, including the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, some of whose members participated in the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol
Rep. Paul Gosar, an Arizona Republican, told a right-wing militant group that the US was in a civil war and predicted it would become violent, Jim Arroyo, the leader of an Arizona chapter of Oath Keepers, said in a Nov. 2020 video. “We asked [Gosar] flat-out, at that time, do you think we’re heading into a civil war?” Arroyo said of his exchange with Gosar. “And his response to the group was just flat-out, ‘We’re in it, we just haven’t started shooting yet.'”
In June 2021, Gosar was one of 14 House Republicans to vote against legislation to establish June 19, or Juneteenth, as a federal holiday.
No one should forget Gosar's most egregious errors. Consider that Gosar says the riots were conducted by “peaceful patriots“ and that “outright propaganda and lies” about the day have been deployed against “law-abiding U.S. citizens, especially Trump voters” to paint them as political criminals.
Paul Gosar is without regret. He practices a philosophy rooted in hatred and violence, and he is consumed by an obstinate devotion to his own prejudices. Gosar's deceit belies his representation in Congress. His narrow mind focuses on extremist views and wild speculation.
Perhaps, Laurie Roberts of the Arizona Republic says it best …
“Here is Rep. Paul 'who me?' Gosar, who for two months, without so much as a shred of evidence, has been howling at the moon about election fraud. A guy who, just before rioters stormed the Capitol, stood on the House floor on Wednesday afternoon and outright lied as he objected to Arizona’s vote, declaring, 'Over 400,000 mail-in ballots were altered, switched from President Trump to Vice President Biden or completely erased from President Trump's total.'
“Minutes later, his rhetoric was a bit more muted.
“'Ok. I said let’s do an audit. Let’s not get carried away here,' he tweeted. 'I don’t want anyone hurt. We are protesting the violation of our laws. We are builders not destroyers. BLM burns and loots. We build. If anyone on the ground reads this and is beyond the line come back' …
“(Who will stand up now?) To stand up now for the once-Grand Old Party and stare down the Kelli Wards and Paul Gosars of the world, the zealots and cultists who have fed lie after lie to their base as they helped Trump light the spark that ignited an assault not seen since 1814, when the British invaded the nation’s Capitol?”
(Laurie Roberts. “Hey, Rep. Gosar, you own Wednesday's insurrection at the nation's Capitol. Arizona Republic, azcentral.com. January 07, 2021.)
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