Andy Biggs--one of the worst
Rick Smith
Arizona Republic (Phoenix)
Friday, JUly 28, 2023 7:00 a.m. MT
Opinion:
Rep. Andy Biggs identifies a national security threat and it is … Biggs
The Republican congressman attacked Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Majorkas, but it seems more like he was looking in a mirror.
Arizona Republic
At a congressional hearing this week, Arizona Republican Rep. Andy Biggs went on the attack against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Majorkas, calling him “an active threat to America’s national security.”
Biggs said that Majorkas’ policies were damaging the country.
He said Majorkas is unfit to serve and should be removed from office.
It was a blunt, no-holds-barred confrontation and by the end of it Biggs had made a very good case against … himself.
Didn't Andy Biggs support a coup?
When it comes to being a threat to America’s national security, after all, would not supporting a coup count?
Biggs was one of 147 Republicans in the House who wanted to overturn the presidential election.
Biggs was subpoenaed by the committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
The committee had some questions.
They might have questioned him about asking then-Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers to decertify Arizona’s lawful presidential electors.
Biggs never explained his Jan. 6 role
They might have asked him to deny, under oath, that he requested a presidential pardon, as was claimed — under oath — by Cassidy Hutchinson, who served as Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs.
They might have asked him about the now infamous video by “Stop the Steal” organizer Ali Alexander in which he says in part, “I was the person who came up with the Jan. 6 idea with Congressman Gosar, Congressman Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) and then Congressman Andy Biggs ... .”
But Biggs refused to appear.
Not too long ago the leader of the far-right Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, was convicted of seditious conspiracy for his part in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Back in 2015, Rhodes participated in an event called “Liberty On Tap,” where Biggs was present, and Rhodes said then-Sen. John McCain “should be hung by the neck until dead.”
Biggs later said didn’t agree with Rhodes, but didn't feel it was his place to speak up and denounce him.
He trashes Majorkas, won't denounce this
But he was happy to denounce Majorkas, a Cuban American with a long resume of service to the government as a prosecutor and administrator.
Biggs and fellow Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar, meantime, were among 21 House members, all Republicans, who voted against a bill to award the congressional gold medal to Capitol and D.C. police officers for their courage during the Capitol riot.
That same dubious duo was among 26 members of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee who refused to sign a pledge denouncing “white nationalism and white supremacy” as well as the kooky “Great Replacement” theory.
Also, Biggs’ own brothers say the congressman is “at least partially to blame” for the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol.
In a letter to The Arizona Republic, William Biggs and Daniel Biggs wrote, “By attempting to cause uncertainty in the election’s outcome, Andy is at least partially to blame for the riot at the Capital on January 6. Political ambition, peer pressure and fealty to (former President Donald) Trump proved to be too strong a drug to resist.”
Remember what the 14th Amendment says?
Biggs speaks often of wanting Congress to impeach Majorkas.
I’ve not heard him mention, however, another mechanism available to rid the government of treasonous officials.
It is described, simply and succinctly, in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. It reads:
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
To whom do you think that would best apply?
The secretary of Homeland Security or the congressman?
Reach Montini at ed.mo...@arizonarepublic.com.
Rick Smith
5264 N. Fort Yuma Trail
Tucson, AZ 85750
Email: rsmit...@comcast.net