Arizona State Representative Mark Finchem is suing the state’s Democrat House Leader for defamation over claims he and others incited an insurrection.
Following the protests on Capitol Hill on January 6th, a number of Arizona Democrats claimed in a letter sent to the FBI that “a group of Republican Arizona legislators and legislators-elect publicly advocated for the overthrow of the election results which encouraged precisely the kind of violent conduct that we witnessed.”
The letter claimed that Ali Alexander, one of the organizers of the Stop the Steal movement, was in fact an organizer of the riot in the Capitol itself, and had “planned and organized the insurrection” with U.S. Reps. Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs.
The letter from the Democrats argues that there is “evidence to indicate” that then Arizona State Reps. Mark Finchem and Anthony Kern, and Gosar and Biggs “encouraged, facilitated, participated, and possible helped plan this anti-democratic insurrection on January 6,” with the signers of the letter therefore urging the FBI to “fully investigate the extent of their involvement”:
Expeditious timing of this request is crucial, as if you find any evidence that these individuals incited, encouraged, or participated in the lawless behaviour that took place on that day, we believe they would potentially be criminally liable and ineligible for public office under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as having engaged in insurrection and rebellion.
As a result, Finchem and former State Rep Kern have sued the Arizona House Democrat Caucus Leader Charlene Fernandez for defamation, having organized the letter. Finchem told the Epoch Times that the claims were “all patently absurd” and “fallacious,” and that while having been a speaker at the planned Stop the Steal event, was nowhere near the riots when they occurred.
The lawsuit claims that Fernandez “baselessly” accused Finchem, Kern, Biggs and Gosar of insurrection, and acted in a “malicious intent” to chill political debate and block discussion of the integrity of the 2020 election. “It’s been horrible,” Finchem said. “They’ve destroyed my character in the public eye. They’ve destroyed my reputation, and all of it is a big lie.”
Speaking exclusively to National File, Finchem said that we must “as a sane society… stand up to the weaponization of everything”:
“[If not]… civil society will disintegrate into what we have seen in nations like Communist Russia, Nazi Germany, Communist China, and Rwanda, where neighbors destroy neighbors over a difference in political preference,” said FInchem. “What we see here is toxic and inhumane behavior from people who claim they want unity, but who define unity as complete submission to their world view and political objectives.”
The lawsuit against Hernandez is only the beginning, with Finchem having sent a demand for public retraction to the Arizona Republic, who printed an opinion editorial that further claimed that Finchem “poses and clear and present danger to American citizens.”
You can read the lawsuit in full below: