Trump rioters storm the U.S. Capitol Wednesday afternoon as lawmakers inside debated the certification of the presidential election./Jerry Habraken/ USA TODAY
By Ronald J. Hansen and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez. Arizona Republic:
Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., who for weeks has stoked outrage over an election he views as stolen, was outlining his argument for challenging Arizona’s election result when rioters overtook the U.S. Capitol.
Hours later, after members of Congress took shelter and donned gas masks, and as rioters debased the halls of the nation’s government and rifled through lawmakers’ offices, Gosar, a six-term Arizona Republican, was unrepentant.
Despite dozens of court rulings across the country to the contrary, he blamed Democrats for stealing the election and for the violence at the Capitol. Gosar urged supporters of President Donald Trump not to engage in the kind of violence he associates with Black Lives Matter and said those who broke into the Capitol were actually members of Antifa, the anti-fascist ideology that isn’t considered an actual organization.
