PHX Reporter

Arizona State House Rep. Mark Finchem said he’s suing Democratic members of the Arizona House and Senate for alleged defamation and malice following the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.

Finchem, a Republican, told The Epoch Times’ “Crossroads” that the allegations against him were fallacious. 

“So earlier in January, the Democrat members of the House and Senate sent a letter to the Department of Justice and the FBI accusing me of high treason, sedition, planning an insurrection, the overthrow of our government,” he said. “All patently absurd, fallacious claims, but then they turned around and sent it to the media as though it was factual. Well, in that, they committed malice.”

Finchem said on the day in question he had gone to the Capitol to challenge the electoral vote during the joint Congressional session. He said he had "an evidence packet" to hand over to Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.).

“I reached out to my lawyer friends and said, hey, this isn’t right,” he said, according to The Epoch Times. “All I did was go to the Capitol to deliver an evidence packet to Rep. Gosar who in turn delivered it to Vice President Pence. I was exercising my franchise. First of all, it was my free speech, but even more importantly, representing my constituents.”

He claims he never made it to the Capitol and was told his speech had been cancelled. Someone told him, “‘Even though we got a permit, this is not going the way we intended. We need to cancel it. And we think it’d be a good idea for you to leave the property because we don’t want you to get swept up in it,'” he recalled as reported by The Epoch Times. “I took a picture and promptly left.”

Democratic Rep. Athena Salman responded to Finchem's complaint saying it was their right to call for an investigation.

Aaccording to the Arizona Capitol Times, in the letter to federal officials, Democrats said, “It is vital to any current or future federal investigation, and ultimately to the Arizona public they represent, that we learn what these elected officials knew about this planned insurrection and when they knew it.”

The head of the Arizona House Ethics Committee, Republican Rep. Becky Nutt, dismissed 82 ethics complaints against Finchem in mid-February. Democratic Rep. César Chávez argued in January that the Republican lawmaker’s social media posts and the photo he took “demonstrate beyond any doubt that he was participated [sic] in the insurrection in Washington, D.C. and supported others in their efforts,” AZCentral reported, The Epoch Times reported.