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U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), the former chair of the far-right House Freedom Caucus and an extremist whose own family members called for him to be removed from office over his activities surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, on Monday labeled First Lady Dr. Jill Biden “compromised” and said she must be investigated.
Congressman Biggs, who just last month was one of 28 House Republicans voting against legislation to protect child sex abuse victims, has a long history of extremism.
Before his congressional career Biggs served as a policy advisor to United Families International, which for at least a decade has repeatedly appeared on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of anti-LGBTQ hate groups. According to a 2012 article in the Phoenix New Times (archived), “Republican state Representative Andy Biggs is the former policy adviser to the group, and his wife Cindy Biggs is currently listed as the organization’s secretary and treasurer on its website.”
Far right activist and conspiracy theorist Ali Alexander, one of the organizers of the Stop the Steal campaign that promotes Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” that the 2020 election was stolen, credits three GOP Members of Congress with helping him start the movement.
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“I was the person that came up with the Jan. 6 idea,” Alexander has said, “with Congressman Gosar, Congressman Mo Brooks, and then Congressman Andy Biggs.”
Arizona’s Copper Courier reports Biggs asked then-President Donald Trump for a preemptive pardon for his actions related to the Jan. 6 insurrection. It also reports Biggs “was one of two Congress members who voted against the COVID-19 bill. His reasoning was because he objected to the fact that the bill’s definition of “couples” included same-sex partners.”
Biggs “falsely claimed” that supporters of the bill “redefined family for the first time in a piece of federal legislation to include committed relationships,” according to GLAAD, which noted, “the same language has been included in proposed legislation as far back as 2015.”
As for Congressman Biggs’ attack on First Lady Biden, Monday night he tweeted, “The Biden family highly concerns me. Joe, Hunter, and even ‘Dr.’ Jill. They are compromised and must be investigated.”
The tweet apparently came in response to news that a small number of documents with classified markings had been found in a locked closet that was part of then-former Vice President Joe Biden’s offices. Those documents were reportedly immediately handed over to the National Archives and the Dept. of Justice was notified.
A Google search found no news reports that tie Dr. Biden to the documents in any way.
Biggs tweeted more lies, stating: “Biden stole classified documents and stored them at his think tank while he was VP. The VP does not have any authority to declassify classified documents. And this ‘think tank’ received $54 million in funding from the CCP.”
Although he did not support any of his claims, Biggs is likely referring to a sum total of $54.6 million given by Chinese donors not to the think tank but to the University of Pennsylvania, according to a New York Post report last year.
“The Ivy League college raked in a total of $54.6 million from 2014 through June 2019 in donations from China, including $23.1 million in anonymous gifts starting in 2016, according to public records,” The Post said. The school is home to a think tank named for President Joe Biden, the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.
“A University of Pennsylvania spokesman denied any anonymous Chinese money had gone to the center,” the Post added.
Image of Andy Biggs by lev radin / Shutterstock
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