On January 23, Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar stood on a stage before a crowd of Republicans and read aloud a scathing text message he d recently received.
Gosar was addressing the Arizona GOP s biannual Statutory Meeting, where hundreds of Republican party activists from across the state had gathered to vote on party leadership positions, policy-related resolutions, and bylaws. The event was held at Dream City Church, a megachurch in north Phoenix with a capacity of about 3,000. In June, before Donald Trump appeared at a campaign event there, its leaders falsely claimed that the facility s ventilation system was capable of virtually eliminating the risk of COVID-19.