Boris Epshteyn/Wikipedia
By Ronald J. Hansen & Yvonne Wingett Sanchez | Arizona Republic
A key adviser to former President Donald Trump who helped promote the idea of a stolen election in 2020 sought in recent weeks to persuade Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers to proceed with a measure erasing the state’s presidential election results.
In a Feb. 11 call, Boris Epshteyn, a lawyer and former special assistant to Trump, pointed again to baseless claims of widespread election fraud as he tried without success to rally support for a vote on a bill by state Republican Rep. Mark Finchem to set aside the results in three Arizona counties, Bowers told The Arizona Republic’s political podcast The Gaggle during a wide-ranging interview this week.
Bowers, R-Mesa, said Epshteyn asked him why he wouldn’t hear Finchem’s bill, which Trump touted earlier this month in a written statement.
“I said, ‘Because I think it’s a slap in the face of the people of Arizona. It’s a slap in the face of the House of Representatives that we’re going to decertify and take away the sovereign vote of 3.5 million people based on no proof that I’ve ever seen,’” Bowers said he told Epshteyn.
