Paul Gosar facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Paul Gosar
Official portrait, 2016
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2011
Preceded by	Ann Kirkpatrick
Constituency	1st district (2011–2013) 4th district (2013–2023) 9th district (2023–present)
Personal details
Born	Paul Anthony Gosar (1958-11-27) November 27, 1958 (age 65) Rock Springs, Wyoming, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Maude Connor ​ (m. 1988)​
Children	3
Relatives	Pete Gosar (brother)
Education	Creighton University (BS, DDS)

Paul Anthony Gosar (/ˈɡoʊsɑːr/ GOH-sar; born November 27, 1958) is an American far-right politician and dentist who has represented Arizona's 9th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2023 and represented Arizona's 4th congressional district from 2013 to 2023. A Republican, he was elected in 2010 to represent the neighboring 1st congressional district until redistricting. Gosar's support of conspiracy theories, his extreme opposition to ... and ..., his alleged connections to Holocaust deniers, and his alleged ties to far-right militant groups such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, have sparked controversy.

..... He has been a strong ally of former president Donald Trump, and voted to overturn the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

Gosar was censured by the U.S. House of Representatives and stripped of his committee assignments in November 2021; it was the first House censure since 2010 and only the 24th in U.S. history. The censure came after Gosar posted a video on social media depicting himself as Attack on Titan character Eren Yeager killing a Titan with the superimposed face of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking one with President Joe Biden's. In January 2023, after Republicans won control of the U.S. House in the 2022 elections, they restored Gosar to all of his committee assignments.

Early life and education

Gosar was born in Rock Springs, Wyoming, on November 27, 1958. He is the eldest of seven sons and three daughters. His paternal grandparents were Slovenian and his maternal grandparents were Basque immigrants from Banca, on the Franco-Spanish border. Gosar was raised in Pinedale, Wyoming, and graduated from Pinedale High School in 1977. His parents have been described as devoted Republicans who attended the national conventions for former presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald Ford. Gosar's brother Pete is a former chairman of the Wyoming Democratic Party and was a candidate for governor of Wyoming in 2010 and 2014.

In 1981, Gosar received his B.S. degree from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. In 1985, he earned his D.D.S. from the Boyne School of Dentistry at Creighton.

Early career

From 1989 to 2010, Gosar had a dentistry practice in Flagstaff, Arizona. In 2001, Gosar was the Arizona Dental Association's (AzDA) "Dentist of the Year". He was inducted into the AzDA Hall of Fame and served as its president from 2004 to 2005. Gosar was also president of the Northern Arizona Dental Society and vice-chair of the AzDA council on governmental affairs.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2010

In 2009, Gosar, who had never run for elected office before, announced that he would challenge Democratic incumbent Ann Kirkpatrick in the 1st district in the 2010 elections. He was identified as a Tea Party candidate by The New York Times because the Arizona Tea Party featured him on its website.

Gosar won the Republican primary. He was endorsed by former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and three Arizona county sheriffs: Maricopa County's Joe Arpaio, Coconino County's Joe Richards, and Pinal County's Paul Babeu. Kirkpatrick challenged him to five debates across the district. Gosar initially agreed to one debate but later withdrew. He released a statement explaining that his decision to withdraw from the debate was based on the long drive to and from the television station, KAET in Phoenix, which had organized the debate, but a producer at KAET said that Gosar's staff had told the station that the candidate could not participate in the debate because he would be attending a fundraiser instead.

Gosar defeated Kirkpatrick in the November 2010 general election, taking 49.7% of the vote.

2012

Gosar initially planned to seek reelection in the 1st district, which had been made less favorable to Republicans as a result of redistricting, but with Kirkpatrick priming for a rematch, he changed his mind and announced in January 2012 that he would run in the newly created 4th district. The 4th had absorbed much of the western portion of the old 1st district and was heavily Republican. Gosar rented an apartment in Prescott, the largest city in the 4th, which he claims as his official residence. While members of the House are only constitutionally required to live in the state they represent, Gosar claimed he would eventually buy a home in the 4th. Despite this, he still claims his home in Flagstaff as his primary residence; he has long received tax breaks on his Flagstaff home due to this status. While he is registered to vote in Yavapai County, home to Prescott, his wife is registered to vote in Coconino County, home to Flagstaff.

Gosar initially faced a tough primary fight against Babeu, but Babeu pulled out in May 2012. Gosar defeated former state senator Ron Gould and businessman Rick Murphy in the Republican primary, all but assuring him a second term in Congress. In the November general election, he defeated Democratic challenger Johnnie Robinson with 67% of the vote.

2014

Gosar easily won reelection, winning 70% of the vote against Democratic nominee Mikel Weisser in the 2014 midterm elections.

2016

Gosar faced Weisser again in 2016. Weisser attempted to use Gosar's support of then-nominee Donald Trump and the recent Access Hollywood tape against him in campaign ads. Gosar was reelected with 71% of the vote.

2018

Gosar speaking at the 2018 Arizona Manufacturing Summit in Phoenix, Arizona

In September 2018, six of Gosar's nine siblings spoke out against their brother and endorsed his Democratic opponent, David Brill, in a series of television campaign ads that drew national and international coverage. In the first ad, sisters Grace and Jennifer, both identified as health care providers, told viewers that their brother did not care about people in rural Arizona. In another ad, called "A family defends its honor," brother David Gosar, a lawyer, declared, "We've got to stand up for our good name. This is not who we are." Paul Gosar responded to the ads on Twitter, describing his siblings as "disgruntled Hillary supporters" who "put political ideology before family".

Gosar defeated Brill in the November 2018 general election with 68.2% of the vote.

2020

Gosar was reelected with 69.7% of the vote over Democratic nominee Delina DiSanto. Six of his nine siblings—Grace, Jennifer, Joan, Gaston, David and Tim—endorsed his opponent, as they had in 2018.

2022

In 2021, Gosar announced that he would run for reelection in Arizona's 9th congressional district after redistricting.

Actions

..... His proposal received the support of Angela Rose and her nonprofit organization, with which Gosar consulted when writing the bill; President Barack Obama stated he would "take a look" at the proposal, but it did not pass.

On January 6, 2020, with the caption "The world is a better place without these guys in power", Gosar tweeted a doctored photograph showing Obama meeting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. The encounter never happened; the picture was a photoshopped version of one showing Obama meeting former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh. The photojournalist Daniel Medina pointed out that Rouhani was still in power and condemned Gosar's attempt to spread disinformation. The photoshopped image was also featured in a 2015 TV ad for Senator Ron Johnson. To widespread criticism, Gosar said, "No one said this wasn't photoshopped."

On December 9, 2020, Gosar co-sponsored Democratic U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard's Break Up Big Tech Act of 2020, aiming to remove Section 230 legal immunity for computer service providers who act as publishers and censor their users.

In June 2021, fliers were circulated online for a fundraiser featuring Gosar and white nationalist Nick Fuentes; while at first appearing to defend the event, Gosar ultimately denied that he had planned to attend it.

Attendance of America First Political Action Conference

On February 26, 2021, Gosar delivered the keynote speech at the America First Political Action Conference hosted by white nationalist and antisemite Nick Fuentes, who had previously supported the 2021 United States Capitol attack, defended racial segregation, and denied aspects of the Holocaust. Gosar was joined at the event by former Representative Steve King of Iowa, who was taken off his congressional committee seats after defending white nationalism in 2019. Gosar later distanced himself from Fuentes, telling a panel at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that racism and violence are unacceptable, criticizing "white racism" and saying, "there's no room for violence.". Nevertheless, he defended his presence at the conference, saying, "There is a group of young people that are becoming part of the election process, and becoming a bigger force. So why not take that energy and listen to what they've got to say?... You don't accomplish anything by isolating and refusing to speak to some audiences." Liz Cheney criticized Gosar's attendance at the event, saying, "This is not the kind of an organization or an event that other members of Congress should be participating in".

CNN also reported that, before CPAC, Gosar and a dozen other Republican House members skipped votes and enlisted others to vote for them in order to attend the event, which was held at the same time as their absences. They cited the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as the reason for their absences. In response, the Campaign for Accountability, an ethics watchdog group, filed a complaint with the House Committee on Ethics and requested an investigation into Gosar and the other lawmakers.

2021 censure

In November 2021, Gosar posted a video on social media that parodied the title sequence of the anime series Attack on Titan that had been edited with the faces of himself, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Joe Biden superimposed on the show's characters, depicting Gosar attacking them with swords. In posting the video, Gosar inquired: "Any anime fans out there?" Gosar insisted that the video "wasn't a threat and is meant to be 'entertaining'".

Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for the House Ethics Committee and law enforcement to investigate it as a threat. On November 17, 2021, Gosar was censured for the post and removed from committee assignments by a 223-to-207 vote, making him the 24th House member to be censured in American history. The vote was mainly along party lines; only two Republicans, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, voted with the Democrats, while "about a dozen Republicans stood beside Gosar in a show of support," according to The Washington Post. (One Republican, David P. Joyce, voted present.) Minutes after being censured, he retweeted the offending video again. The next day, Trump endorsed Gosar for his 2022 reelection bid, while House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said he would likely give Gosar better committee assignments if Republicans won the House in 2022.

2022

In February 2022, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell criticized Gosar for participating in the America First Political Action Conference hosted by white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes.

2023

In an email published on his congressional website in September 2023, Gosar called for the execution of U.S. Army general Mark Milley. .....

Committee assignments

For the 118th Congress:

• Committee on Natural Resources
  • Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources
  • Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations (Chair)
• Committee on Oversight and Accountability
  • Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services
  • Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs

Caucus memberships

• Republican Study Committee
• Congressional Western Caucus (chair)
• Congressional Interstate 11 Caucus (co-chair)
• Congressional Inventions Caucus (co-chair)
• Freedom Caucus
• Congressional Constitution Caucus
• U.S.-Japan Caucus
• Second Amendment Caucus

Attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election

"Stop the Steal"

A November 2020 tweet from Gosar, suggesting that Arizona attorney general Mark Brnovich should investigate false claims of voter fraud following the 2020 U.S. presidential election

Several weeks after the 2020 presidential election, Gosar was one of 27 Republican members of Congress to request that U.S. Attorney General William Barr "appoint a Special Counsel to investigate irregularities in the 2020 election." The Arizona Republican Party produced a video, featuring Gosar and Representative Andy Biggs, falsely claiming that there was widespread voter fraud in the election. Gosar falsely claimed that Arizona's voting machines were faulty, that Wisconsin intentionally paused counting votes to "dump" 100,000 votes into the count for Joe Biden, and that dead people voted in Pennsylvania. He and Biggs also demanded an audit of Maricopa County's vote count. Gosar strongly objected to counting electoral votes for Biden from certain states.

Through November, Gosar participated in Stop the Steal protests, comparing their efforts to the Battle of the Alamo. Later, he tweeted a comparison between the fight for the America First agenda and Teruo Nakamura of the Imperial Japanese Army; Nakamura refused to recognize news of Japan's surrender in World War II for three decades, and remained on the remote island of Morotai alone until his discovery in 1974.

Gosar repeatedly spoke at Stop the Steal events, claiming without basis that then-President-elect Joe Biden was an "illegitimate usurper" and that Trump was the victim of an attempted coup.

Involvement in the 2021 United States Capitol attack

In December after the election, right-wing political activist and organizer Ali Alexander said that he, Gosar, Biggs, and Representative Mo Brooks were "planning something big": a "mob" to pressure Congress into rejecting the election results. In a since-deleted video, Alexander said: "We four schemed up of putting maximum pressure on Congress while they were voting." Gosar's office did not respond to media inquiries about this allegation. News outlets noted that Gosar's social media accounts had expressed support for Alexander in the past.

In the joint session of Congress to formally count the votes of the Electoral College on January 6, 2021, Gosar and Senator Ted Cruz led a challenge to Arizona's electoral results.

The electoral count was disrupted when a mob of Trump supporters attacked the Capitol, resulting in the death of one police officer and four protesters. Gosar was the first member of Congress to advance the false conspiracy theory that antifa was to blame for the violence, echoed by Brooks and Representative Matt Gaetz. When Congress reconvened that night, the challenge to the Arizona vote had been rejected 6-93 in the Senate and 121-303 in the House. Of Arizona's congressional representatives, Representatives Gosar, Biggs, and Debbie Lesko voted to reject Arizona's vote results.

As a result of Gosar's alleged involvement in the storming of the Capitol, three of his siblings called for his expulsion from Congress. "When you talk about what happened the other day, you're talking about treason. You're talking about overthrowing the government. That's what this is. If that doesn't rise to the level of expulsion, what does?" said Tim Gosar. On January 19, the last day of the Trump administration, it was reported that Gosar and Biggs sought pardons from Trump. No pardons were granted to them or anyone else involved in the storming of the Capitol or the preceding "Save America" rally.

In June 2021, Gosar was one of 21 House Republicans to vote against a resolution to give the Congressional Gold Medal to police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

Political positions

Multiple sources have described Gosar as a proponent of far-right politics. During Donald Trump's presidency, Gosar voted in line with the president's stated position 86.1% of the time. During Joe Biden's presidency, he voted in line with the president's stated position 3.7% of the time (as of May 25, 2022).

LGBT rights

Gosar is opposed to the expansion of LGBT rights. In December 2022, Gosar voted against the Respect for Marriage Act, which codified same-sex and interracial marriage rights into federal law, along with all Arizona Republicans. .....

Boycott of Pope Francis

On September 17, 2015, in an op-ed on the conservative website Townhall.com, Gosar announced that he would not attend Pope Francis's planned address to a joint meeting of Congress unless Francis spoke about issues such as "violent Islam" or ... instead of climate change. He wrote that he would treat Francis the same way he believes "leftist politicians" should be treated. Gosar said that Francis "adopted all of the socialist talking points, wrapped false science and ideology into 'climate justice' and is being presented to guilt people into leftist policies." He called climate science "questionable" and criticized Laudato si', Francis's encyclical on the environment.

Gosar did not attend Francis's September 24 address, the only member of Congress not to do so. Shortly after Francis's visit, Gosar used his opposition to his address as a fundraising tool. A fundraising email for Gosar used his Townhall.com op-ed's catchphrase, "When the Pope chooses to act and talk like a leftist politician, then he can expect to be treated like one" and positioned Gosar as the victim of "unprecedented attacks" from "the liberals, the left-wing media and the Obama political machine."

Economy

Gosar voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. He was criticized for touting funding for Kingman Airport in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act while neglecting to mention that he voted against the final bill.

Gosar was among the 71 Republicans who voted against final passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 in the House. In June 2020, Gosar introduced a bill that if passed would force the Federal Reserve to restart issuance of $500 bills and adopt a new design that would feature former President Donald Trump in its portrait.

Environment

In 2015, Gosar scored 3% on the National Environmental Scorecard of the League of Conservation Voters, in part because he is a global warming denier. On January 30, 2017, he introduced House Joint resolution 46, which would repeal the authority of the National Park Service to decline private drilling for oil, gas and minerals in 40 U.S. National Parks if the Park Service determines that the mining operation would threaten the environment. The Washington Post said Gosar was "no friend of environmentalists."

In September 2015, Gosar submitted articles of impeachment against EPA administrator Gina McCarthy, asserting that she had committed "high crimes and misdemeanors" and "lied to the American people in order to force misguided and overreaching regulations, which have no scientific basis, down our throats." An EPA spokeswoman said Gosar's resolution "has zero merit and is nothing more than political theater", while fellow Republican and House majority leader Kevin McCarthy confirmed that "There's no plan to impeach Gina McCarthy."

Gosar supports dismantling the Endangered Species Act, calling it "status quo" and "costly, burdensome and uncertain."

Foreign policy

In 2019, Gosar co-signed a letter from Representative Ro Khanna and Senator Rand Paul to Trump asserting that it is "long past time to rein in the use of force that goes beyond congressional authorization" and that they hoped this would "serve as a model for ending hostilities in the future—in particular, as you and your administration seek a political solution to our involvement in Afghanistan."

In 2019, Gosar was one of 60 representatives to vote against condemning Trump's withdrawal from Syria.

In 2020, Gosar voted against the National Defense Authorization Act of 2021, which would prevent the president from withdrawing soldiers from Afghanistan without congressional approval.

In June 2020, Gosar expressed support for Morocco's position on the Western Sahara conflict, and encouraged the Trump administration to support this position.

In 2021, when the House overwhelmingly passed a measure condemning the Myanmar coup d'état, Gosar voted present, while 14 other House Republicans voted against it.

In June 2021, Gosar was one of 49 House Republicans to vote to repeal the 2002 Congressional authorization of the Iraq War.

In September 2021, Gosar was among 75 House Republicans to vote against the National Defense Authorization Act of 2022, which contains a provision that would require women to be drafted.

Gosar was among 19 House Republicans to vote against the final passage of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act.

In February 2022, Gosar co-sponsored the Secure America's Borders First Act, which would prohibit the expenditure or obligation of military and security assistance to Kyiv over the U.S. border with Mexico.

In October 2022, Gosar invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to Arizona for peace talks over the Russo-Ukrainian War.

In 2023, Gosar was among 47 Republicans to vote in favor of H.Con.Res. 21 which directed President Joe Biden to remove U.S. troops from Syria within 180 days.

Gosar voted to support Israel following the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

Gun rights

Gosar has stated that the "Second Amendment is one of the most important rights set forth by the Bill of Rights" and that he will "continue to oppose efforts to restrict, infringe, or remove this constitutionally protected right." He was endorsed by the NRA Political Victory Fund and given an "A" rating. He was also endorsed by Gun Owners of America and given a rating of 75%.

Health care

Gosar opposed Obamacare and has advocated for physician-owned hospitals. He favors consumer choice of doctors, types of care and insurance plans. He supported water fluoridation to prevent tooth decay in his early career as a dentist, but in 2022 spoke out against water fluoridation, citing concerns that it reduced human intelligence.

In September 2024, Congressman Gosar introduced legislation that would allow citizens to sue vaccine manufacturers for vaccine injuries. He argued that there was a lack of science concerning vaccine safety, adding that vaccine manufacturers should be held accountable for adverse effects of their vaccines, Gosar also said that his legislation strips away liability shields for Big Pharma and allows patients to pursue a civil lawsuit in state or federal court.

Immigration

The Arizona Republic described Gosar as "one of the staunchest opponents in Congress to legalizing undocumented dreamers". Gosar stated, "I strongly believe we need to immediately secure our border and oppose amnesty for anyone who blatantly violates our law." He has cosponsored legislation to repeal the 14th Amendment, thus eliminating birthright citizenship for children born in the US to undocumented immigrants. In a May 2018 interview he accused immigration attorneys providing legal advice to undocumented immigrants of committing a crime: "What we need to do is also hold those that are actually helping — what they're saying is help, but assisting in a crime — to be prosecuted as well."

Gosar supported the building of the Mexico-U.S. border wall propounded by Trump. Gosar believes it will help stop MS-13 gang activity in the United States. He has proposed a 10-year moratorium on all immigration.

Gosar voted against the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019 which would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate the per-country numerical limitation for employment-based immigrants, to increase the per-country numerical limitation for family-sponsored immigrants, and for other purposes.

Gosar voted against the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020 which authorizes DHS to nearly double the available H-2B visas for the remainder of FY 2020.

Gosar voted against Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 1158) which effectively prohibits ICE from cooperating with Health and Human Services to detain or remove illegal alien sponsors of unaccompanied alien children (UACs).

Gosar sponsored H.R. 6202, the American Tech Workforce Act of 2021, introduced by Representative Jim Banks. The legislation would establish a wage floor for the high-skill H-1B visa program, thereby significantly reducing employer dependence on the program. The bill would also eliminate the Optional Practical Training program that allows foreign graduates to stay and work in the United States.

Militias

In April 2014, Gosar joined a group of five conservative Arizona state legislators at the Bundy Standoff in Bunkerville, Nevada, where grazing fee resistors and their supporters took up arms against Federal Bureau of Land Management and law enforcement officials. The confrontation ended when federal officials chose not to take further action.

Native Americans

In December 2014, Gosar drew controversy when he referred to American Indians as "wards of the federal government". He was responding to concerns from members of the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in eastern Arizona when he made the comment at the round-table talk in Flagstaff. The discussion had addressed the proposal to swap 2,400 acres of southeastern Arizona's Tonto National Forest for about 5,300 acres of environmentally sensitive land. The proposal, which was attached as a rider to the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, would give land sacred to the Apache in Arizona to Resolution Copper Mine, a joint venture owned by Rio Tinto and BHP. Troy Eid, a Republican and former U.S. Attorney in Colorado, responded to Gosar's comments, "In the heated context of what this represents, it's especially inappropriate to be resorting to what amounts to race baiting." A Gosar spokesperson said his comments were misconstrued.

Ties to the far right

In an October 2017 interview with Vice News, Gosar suggested that the white nationalist Unite the Right rally had been "created by the left", an idea previously expressed by Alex Jones of InfoWars, Representative Dana Rohrabacher, Dinesh D'Souza, and other right-wing figures. Gosar also suggested that Jason Kessler, the organizer of the Charlottesville rally, might have been backed by George Soros, who he said "turned in his own people to the Nazis". Seven of Gosar's siblings wrote an open letter to the Kingman (Arizona) Daily Miner newspaper denouncing Gosar's claims about Soros as "despicable slander ... without a shred of truth", saying Gosar "owes George Soros a personal apology"; they also called his statements an "anti-semitic dog whistle".

In July 2018, Gosar spoke at a rally in London in support of former English Defence League leader and anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson, emphasizing the importance of the right to free speech. Gosar and six other congressmen invited Robinson to speak to the Conservative Opportunity Society on November 14, 2018, while Robinson was visiting the United States on a trip sponsored by the Middle East Forum and the David Horowitz Freedom Center.

In 2019, Gosar sought to reinstate Representative Steve King to the House committees from which King had been removed due to a series of remarks widely seen as racist. Gosar agreed with King's contention that his words had been taken out of context. In February 2021, Gosar spoke with King at the second annual America First Political Action Conference, hosted by white nationalist Nick Fuentes.

In January 2021, The New York Times detailed Gosar's comments on and ties to the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, some of whose members participated in the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol. Jim Arroyo, who heads the Yavapai County, Arizona, chapter of Oath Keepers, said that Gosar had attended one of its meetings, "And we asked him, flat out: 'Do you think we are headed towards a Civil War?' And he said, 'We are in a Civil War, we just haven't started shooting yet'... So that is about to change."

Employment of prominent neo-Nazi follower and writer

Since November 2021, Gosar has employed Wade Searle, first as a temporary employee and then as his digital director. Searle reportedly is a "dedicated acolyte of Nick Fuentes, with the Hitler-loving white supremacist leader going as far as to call him a loyal friend and one of the ‘strongest soldiers of the movement.'" Searle reportedly runs the white supremacist "ChickenRight" accounts on Twitter and Gab, which has posted anti-semitic conspiracy theories about “HOOK-NOSED BANKERS.”

Treason accusations against the FBI and DOJ

In February 2018, Gosar posted on his Facebook page that the Nunes memo—in which Republican Congressman Devin Nunes accused the FBI and U.S. Justice Department of illegally obtaining a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to spy on Trump adviser Carter Page—showed "clear and convincing evidence" that certain members of those agencies committed treason. He also specifically said conduct by former FBI Director James Comey, former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, and former Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was "not just criminal but constitutes treason". In what Gosar called "my full statement on the declassified memo", he said he would be "leading [sic] a letter to the Attorney General seeking criminal prosecution against these traitors to our nation."

Paul Gosar with Donald Trump in 2019

Support for impeaching Biden administration officials

During the 117th United States Congress, Gosar was co-sponsor of three resolutions to impeach President Joe Biden. He also co-sponsored a resolution to impeach Attorney General Merrick Garland and a resolution to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.

Electoral history

Personal life

Gosar's wife is Maude Gosar (née Connor). The couple has three children.

Gosar is Catholic but has criticized Pope Francis's papacy as "inconsistent with Christianity" and skipped Francis's 2015 address to Congress in protest.

Gosar has arthritis and has had two compressed vertebrae in his back that have required surgery to correct. He cites years of hunching over for long periods while a dentist as the cause, as well as genetics and a history of playing rugby.

In 2018, six (David, Gaston, Grace, Jennifer, Joan, and Tim) of Gosar's nine siblings participated in ads supporting their brother's political adversary, David Brill. In the ads, they all state their desire to defend their family's name lest the world think the entire Gosar family shares Paul's ideology. David Gosar said, "He's absolutely not working for his district." Tim said, "He's not listening to you and he doesn't have your best interests at heart." Grace said, "Paul Gosar, the congressman, isn't doing anything to help rural America." Jennifer said, "If he actually cared about people in rural Arizona, I bet he'd be fighting for Social Security, for better access to healthcare; I bet he'd be researching what is the most insightful water policy to help the environment of Arizona to sustain itself and be successful."

See also

In Spanish: Paul Gosar para niños

• Pete Gosar
• Arizona's 4th congressional district
• List of United States representatives expelled, censured, or reprimanded