More Prominent Republicans Implicated in Trump's Plan

The fourth hearing for the Jan. 6 investigatory panel revealed that several GOP political heavy-hitters actively tried to assist Trump or his campaign in pursuing the false slate of electors scheme.

A phone call between former President Donald Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R), is played during the Select Committee’s fourth hearing on Tuesday, June 21, 2022. (Photo by Tom Williams/via Getty Images)

Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a prominent conservative figure, told members of the Jan. 6 Hearing Committee yesterday that his family had begun to dread Saturdays. This is the day of the week, Bowers said, when Trump supporters would drive around his neighborhood, screaming that he was a "pedophile" and a corrupt politician. A man with a pistol even showed up at his neighbor’s house, which Bower’s said made him feel forced to get involved, and he had to put himself between the irrational Trump supporter and his neighbor to attempt to manage the dispute.

This was not the worst of what happened. Bowers explained the cost to his family, telling the panel, "At the same time…we had a daughter who was gravely ill who was upset by what was happening outside and my wife, that is a valiant person, very strong, quiet, very strong woman…" Bowers was clearly emotional as he concluded stoically: "So it was disturbing." Bowers’ daughter died from her illness in 2021.

In addition to his moving personal account of the consequences he suffered by refusing to go along with Donald Trump and his scheme of “alternate electors,” Bowers also recounted the many attempts made to change his mind. Trump lawyer John Eastman directly asked Bowers to decertify the electors, which Eastman claimed would supposedly move the issue to the courts.

Amee Vanderpool @girlsreallyrule

Bowers recalls that John Eastman asked him to decertify electors too: "I said, you're asking me to do something that's never been done in the history of the United States, and I'm going to put my state through that, without sufficient proof?...No, sir."

Rusty Bowers explained how he continually asked Rudy Giuliani, who was also pressuring him to decertify the legal electors, to provide any kind of evidence that would back up their outlandish claims of voter fraud. Bowers testified that Giuliani told him of supposed claims involving allegations of voter fraud committed by undocumented immigrants or dead people who were listed as having voted.