Arizona GOP 'voter fraud' witness implicates Trump-loving lawmaker in drug cartel bribe claims

A witness called by Arizona Republicans to push baseless claims of mass voter fraud has now implicated two Republican state senators in a scheme that he says involves taking bribes from drug cartels.

The Arizona Republic reports that Jacqueline Breger, the witness who last week accused multiple state officials of taking bribes in exchange for manipulating statewide elections, was actually relaying the theories of a man named John Thaler, a one-time lawyer from Scottsdale whose law license has been suspended.

The Republic reached out to Thaler to ask him to elaborate on his claims about Arizona officials taking bribes, and he said that indicated that Arizona State Sens. Wendy Rogers and Ken Bennett both possessed "documents that meet the characteristics of those documents used in the money laundering and bribery schemes."

Thaler offered no concrete proof of his claims when asked by the newspaper, however.

Bennett was the Republican state senator who last week cut off Breger as she was accusing two other Republican officials, Mesa Mayor John Giles and Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, of taking bribes.

Rogers, meanwhile, is one of former President Donald Trump's biggest loyalists in the state and has been at the forefront of pushing false claims about the 2020 election being "stolen" from him.

The Arizona Republic notes that, even though Rogers did not directly address Thaler's claims, she did put out a statement expressing regret about the bribery claims being aired in a public hearing.

"Late Sunday night Rogers... issued a press release stating that the claims made by Breger should have been turned over to law enforcement 'and not brought before the Legislature,'" the publication writes. "She added that 'none of the people named' in the presentation are facing charges and that even if allegations are proven factual, the Legislature isn't the venue to try the case."