GOP-Controlled Arizona Senate Votes to Investigate Trump Ally Wendy Rogers For Linking FBI to Buffalo Shooting
The Republican-controlled Arizona Senate voted on Monday to open an investigation into state Sen. Wendy Rogers after she alleged on social media the FBI was behind the mass shooting in Buffalo that killed ten people.
“By 24-3 vote, Arizona Senate votes to hold ethics investigation of Sen. Wendy Rogers. R’s control Senate 16-14. Next up: Democratic Leader Rebecca Rios calls for vote on expelling Rogers. Senate President Fann rules it out of order. Lawyers getting involved,” reported Brahm Resnik of NBC 12 News in Arizona.
BREAKING By 24-3 vote, Arizona Senate votes to hold ethics investigation of Sen. Wendy Rogers. R’s control Senate 16-14. Next up: Democratic Leader Rebecca Rios calls for vote on expelling Rogers. Senate President Fann rules it out of order. Lawyers getting involved. https://t.co/3cTia5A19l
— Brahm Resnik (@brahmresnik) May 16, 2022
State Sen. Rebecca Rios accused Rogers of “poisoning the soul of Arizona” and called for Rogers to be expelled, Resnik added.
Rogers wrote on Saturday night after a white nationalist entered a supermarket in a predominantly Black area of Buffalo and opened fire: “Fed boy summer has started in Buffalo.”
The post was roundly criticized and made national headlines as Rogers is a leading figure in MAGA world. Rogers defended herself saying, “Free speech matters. We should be able to have a dialogue agreeing or disagreeing.”
Rogers, who represents the Flagstaff area, was censured in March after she spoke on Feb. 25 at Nick Fuentes’ America First Political Action Conference in Florida, which was meant to be far-right counterprogramming to CPAC.
The Arizona Republican also shared an anti-Semitic image on her Gab account prior to her appearance.
Rogers told the white nationalist group that “we need to build more gallows. If we try some of these high-level criminals, convict them and use a newly built set of gallows, it’ll make an example of these traitors who have betrayed our country.”
Rogers is a prominent supporter of former President Donald Trump’s allegations that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
In January, Rogers announced that she raised nearly $2.5 million in 2021 – a record. Rogers, a retired air force pilot, broke the record for the highest fundraising total in Arizona legislative history that she set in 2020 – when she was first elected to the state senate.
Trump endorsed Rogers for re-election in November 2021.
