Cheney gives Bowers a hug after testimony

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the vice chairwoman of the House Jan. 6 select committee, gave Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R) a hug after he delivered gripping testimony before the panel at Tuesday’s public hearing.

The Wyoming congresswoman, who is one of two Republicans serving on the committee, walked to the witness table when the hearing broke for recess and gave Bowers a hug. Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who are also members of the panel, shook Bowers’s hand.

The interactions came after Bowers testified before the panel at Tuesday’s public hearing, which focused on Trump’s involvement in pressuring state officials to dodge election requirements and declare him the winner of the 2020 presidential election in their states.

The Arizona House Speaker, a Republican, refuted former President Trump’s description of a November 2020 phone call that took place between the two men, testifying that he never told the former president that the election was rigged or that Trump won the state of Arizona — despite the former president saying he did.

Bowers also told the committee members that Rudy Giuliani told him that he did not have evidence to back up the election fraud claims.

“My recollection, he said, ‘We’ve got lots of theories. We just don’t have the evidence,’” Bowers testified on Tuesday.

“And I don’t know if that was a gaffe or maybe he didn’t think through what he said, but both myself and others in my group … both remember that specifically, and afterwards we kind of laughed about it,” he added.