Mediaboss Marketing

When the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack reached out to Arizonas Kelli Ward in February, no one was especially surprised. After all, the right-wing chair of the Arizona Republican Party was a pro-Trump fake elector after the 2020 election.

Whats more, Ward has been accused of helping assemble the larger slate of fake electors in her home state, while filing lawsuits in the hopes of nullifying Arizonas election results. She also joined a lawsuit that hoped to force then-Vice President Mike Pence to help Donald Trump keep the presidency, despite the will of the voters.

Just a few months ago, we also learned of December 2020 email from a Republican lawyer who helped organize the bogus electors in Arizona. The lawyer wrote to the Trump campaign that Ward recommended trying to keep the scheme under wraps until Congress counts the vote Jan. 6th (so we can try to surprise the Dems and media with it) I tend to agree with her.

In other words, Ward has an important perspective. Evidently, shes not eager to share that perspective. Politico reported:

Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward asserted her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to avoid answering questions from the Jan. 6 select committee, a lawyer for the panel revealed in federal court Tuesday. Dr. Ward was deposed by the select committee, and she declined to answer on every substantive question and asserted her rights under the Fifth Amendment, select committee attorney Eric Columbus said during a court hearing before Arizona-based U.S. District Court Judge Diane Humetewa.

Its worth emphasizing that while we learned of this yesterday, its unclear precisely when Ward sat down with investigators and refused to answer questions.

Its also worth noting that the Arizona GOP chair has quite a bit of company. Lets circle back to our earlier coverage and review the list of high-profile figures from Trumps orbit whove invoked the Fifth recently:

The mob takes the Fifth Amendment, Donald Trump said in 2016, deriding those who assert their right against self-incrimination. If youre innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?

The relevance of the quote continues to linger.

Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MSNBC political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics."

See the original post here:
Arizonas Ward latest Republican to take the Fifth in Jan. 6 probe - MSNBC