Rep.Andy Biggs asked the House Oversight Committee “Who won the election in Arizona? Donald Trump or Joe Biden?”/Screengrab/NBC.
By Jane C. Timm| NBC
Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., falsely claimed “we don’t know” who won Arizona last November during a House hearing Thursday on Republicans’ much-criticized ballot review that agreed President Joe Biden beat Donald Trump.
As the hearing got underway, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., asked Biggs whether he accepted the findings of the GOP-led review of ballots in Maricopa County, which last month affirmed Biden’s victory and suggested he received even more votes over the former president than official counts had recorded.
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“Who won the election in Arizona? Donald Trump or Joe Biden?” he asked.
“We don’t know because as the audit demonstrates, Mr. Raskin, there are a lot of issues with this election that took place,” Biggs responded.
“This is the problem we have,” Raskin said, adding, “Unfortunately, we have one of the great political parties which has followed him off of the ledge of this electoral lunacy. It is dangerous for democracy. I am glad we are having this hearing today.”
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Biggs, a Trump ally, has previously refused to acknowledge that Biden won the presidency, but the moment underscored a dynamic that has only become more pronounced since Arizona Republicans first authorized the extraordinary ballot review, hiring outside contractors with little to no experience in elections to conduct it. In the 11 months since Biden’s victory, challenging and questioning those results has emerged as a litmus test for Republicans as Trump, who continues to push the lie that the election was stolen from him, remains popular with the party’s base. Demands for election investigations have proliferated, even in counties Trump won by large margins.
