Last Updated on November 30, 2020
After the state’s hearing into election integrity was only halfway through, Arizona State Rep. Mark Finchem, a Republican, issued a call for his colleagues to withhold the state’s Electoral College votes, as he believes there is enough significant evidence of fraud to invalidate the state’s votes.
“We are clawing our electoral college votes back, we will not release them. That’s what I’m calling our colleagues in both the House and the Senate to do,” added Finchem. “Exercise our plenary authority under the U.S. Constitution.”
He added, “There is a legal brief out there that says we are not tethered to state statue. When it comes to this one question, a simple majority can call the House and Senate back, and in a day pass a resolution, and cause those electors to basically be held. And it is binding. I’ll see you all in court.”
Standing nearby was Sonny Borrelli, the Republican Senate Majority Whip, indicating Finchem’s plan may already be receiving support among the Arizona Republican Party’s leadership.
This comes after former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Trump campaign senior attorney Jenna Ellis both made the case and then directly asked the Arizona legislature to either withhold their electoral votes, as Finchem plans to do, or to assign them to President Trump.
Also standing next to Finchem was U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), who joined the event in a show of solidarity with both supporters of President Donald Trump and the president himself. Gosar previously appeared at an early pro-Trump protest in Arizona, where he delivered a seemingly impromptu speech calling for election integrity, bellowing that “Biden’s thugs will not steal this election.”
