Members of the House select committee investigating January 6 listen during a hearing in the Cannon House Office Building on June 13, 2022 in Washington, DC. || Alex Wong/Getty Images
By Richard Ruelas || Arizona Republic
In a filing to the U.S. Supreme Court, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol described the actions of Kelli Ward, the head of Arizona’s Republican Party, in the weeks leading to the riot as tantamount to a seizing of government power.
“Dr. Ward aided a coup attempt,”
the Friday court filing reads.
The filing before the nation’s highest court explained why it was vital for the committee to see logs of texts and calls made by Ward between November 2020 and January 2021.
That tumultuous time span encompassed attempts to get government officials not to canvass the election and the convening of a slate of electors who would falsely certify themselves has having Arizona’s official vote. It was an attempt designed at best to muddy up the official certification of the results.
The paragraph in the filing that uses the word “coup” goes on to list Ward’s actions that the committee said fueled the passions of those who breached the Capitol buildings on the day Congress met to count the Electoral College votes.
Arizona politics: Kelli Ward wins temporary halt for turning over phone records
Ward tried to stop Maricopa County officials from counting ballots, the filing reads. Further, the filing says, she tried to get a top official in Arizona’ most populous county in contact with then-President Donald Trump. She also, the filing says, promoted false claims about voting machines.
Finally, the filing notes that she became part of an alternate slate of electors who were part of a failed scheme that could delayed or overturned the 2020 general election victory of President Joe Biden.
“These matters are of significant interest to the Select Committee,” the filing reads.
