Republican Congressman Liz Harris doesn’t believe “direct allegations of crime” were made during a committee meeting she hosted. Condemned The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a list of local and state officials It is said to be involved in an illegal money laundering scheme orchestrated by the Sinaloa drug cartel.

For about 90 minutes on Thursday, the State House Ethics Committee will question Harris about the Feb. 23 meeting to determine whether Harris knew in advance of his plans to spread wild and unsubstantiated allegations. tried to

The Ethics Committee adjourned Thursday afternoon to examine the evidence and consider what action, if any, would be taken. Committee chair Joseph Chaplik, R-Scottsdale, did not indicate when the committee would reconvene to announce its decision.

House Democrats, led by Rep. Stephanie Stahl, told the Ethics Committee on March 6 to invite Gilbert Insurance Agent Jacqueline Breger to address the Joint Election Committee of the Senate and House on Feb. 23. He called for a formal denunciation of Harris. Breger accused the Church of Latter-day Saints, and other officials, including Governor Katie Hobbs and Republican House Speaker Ben Toma, for participating in a housing deed and money laundering scheme alongside Mexican drug cartels.

Over 40 minutes on February 23, Breger made lewd allegations against various officials and members of parliament, accusing them of money laundering and electoral fraud.

To support her claims, Breger pointed to the books of her boyfriend, John Thaler, and the numerous documents he supposedly used to inform his book.

On Thursday, Harris said Stahl had not reviewed the evidence for Breger’s allegations before filing the ethics complaint, believing Stahl could not prove that the information presented during the meeting was not true. added.

The Arizona Mirror reviewed the fraud “evidence” shared by Breger and Thaler and found none to be credible. In many cases, the “fake” persons purported to appear on the fake deeds are real, while so-called falsified deeds attributed to elected officials appear to have been submitted by people with similar names. It’s not too much.

The surrounding conservative media helped Breger and Thaler’s unsubstantiated allegations spread like wildfire across the country after the meeting, causing many Republicans in Congress to keep yourself away From testimony including Thomas and Senate Speaker Warren Peterson.

Mr Harris told the ethics committee that he never thought Mr Breger would make such a bizarre claim, and to that day provided a list of elected officials believed to be involved in the scheme. He added that he had never seen it.

“I was shocked to see my name listed,” Harris said, adding that he was “extremely upset” that Toma was included on the list.

Harris told Breger before the meeting that Breger cannot challenge members of Congress or bring up claims about religious institutions during her testimony.

Breger and Thaler have previously made baseless allegations that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was involved in the scandal.

However, screenshots of a text message thread between Harris, Breger, and an unidentified person believed to be John Thaler were anonymously distributed to the legislative leadership and submitted as evidence of an ethical complaint against Harris.

In one of the messages sent a few days before the February 23rd meeting, Harris told Breger that he needed to come up with a title for his presentation to the committee so Harris could put it on the agenda of the meeting. I’m telling you.

“We’re trying to come up with something that doesn’t give red flags,” Breger replied. “Can you say something like ‘Presentation by Harris/Thaler Law Firm’ in complete vagueness?”

According to Harris, Breger was a last-minute addition to the agenda. Harris said of witnesses who reportedly saw caches of ballots kept outside Mesa residences, as well as backdoors into Maricopa, Yavapai, Yuma, and Pima county computer systems through his portal. He said he was under the impression that Breger would testify about the evidence. county.

Harris told the commission that he had not seen Breger until the weekend before the commission.

In his testimony, Breger referred to an alleged backdoor computer portal, which he said was used to commit home deed fraud and change election results. But she spent most of her time talking about housing fraud.

In the document, Harris said that all electronic presentations before the Election Commission must be submitted to Thomas in advance, so she suggested providing paper handouts instead. Harris explained to the Ethics Committee that he suggested the paper handout not because he wanted to preserve the content of the presentation from Toma, but because of time constraints.

Republican Senator Ken Bennett finally ended Breger’s testimony on February 23, saying he could not blame members of Congress.

Harris then texted Thaler and Breger, saying, “I left there (the committee meeting) today thinking I’d never come back.”

Harris told the Ethics Commission that he was horrified after the hearing and thought he was “about to be decapitated.” He mentioned that he was afraid of what would happen to her.

“I didn’t want to come back because I knew I was going to be responsible for everything,” Harris explained.

In her formal response to an ethics complaint, Harris said not only could Congress not stop the public from expressing their grievances to the government, but the Constitution requires her to testify against Breger. wrote.

“It is the only agency empowered to see and inform the people freely about the issues that need to be enforced by law to stop the danger of fraudulent elections and to research and make appropriate laws. If they want to direct Congress, they are free to approach their servants in the legislature,” Harris wrote.

Despite Harris’ arguments to the contrary, the chairmen of both House and Senate election committees have significant powers over who can testify, how long they can speak, and what they can say at committee meetings. I have.

At a meeting of the House City Oversight and Elections Committee on March 8, Republican Committee Chairman Jacqueline Parker told liberal lobbyist Ben Seale, “While speaking before the Committee, At the same meeting, Parker told him that he would not be welcome to speak in front of the committee until he learned to be more respectful.

Commission member Harris did not speak in Seal’s defense during that meetingor the next one Cher was asked to walk away after trying to talk.

“You were brave,” Harris texted Breger after the Feb. 23 meeting. “I knew they were going to shut it down. It took longer than I expected.”