Congressman Paul Gosar's brother explains his call for his brother's removal: "What am I supposed to do as an American?"
Representative Paul Gosar is facing criticism from unlikely sources – several of his own family members.
Two of the Congressman's siblings, Dave Gosar and his sister Jennifer, called for their brother to be removed from office in an op-ed published on NBC News over the weekend.
The Arizona Republican was first elected to office in 2010. Dave Gosar told CBSN's Elaine Quijano in an interview Wednesday evening that he started to notice "unhinged behavior" from his brother at the end of former President Obama's second term.
In 2018, the congressman's siblings began to speak out against him. Dave Gosar says their decision was fueled by their brother's antisemitic rhetoric. That year, six of Paul Gosar's ten siblings campaigned against their brother when he was up for reelection.
Speaking in a video campaign for Gosar's Democrat opponent David Brill, Dave Gosar said the siblings had to "stand up for our good name."
Since then, Dave Gosar has criticized his brother's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. In the NBC piece, he said he was bothered when Paul Gosar called the initial response to COVID-19 "overblown."
Dave Gosar also believes his brother, a loyal supporter of former President Trump, played a role in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"It's just lunacy, it's not politics," Dave Gosar told CBSN.
Earlier this year, a Democratic congresswoman released a nearly 2,000-page report examining lawmakers social media and misinformation about the 2020 election that found that Paul Gosar's social media posts "include phony allegations of his own state 'stealing' the election, and support for protests against local election officials. He wrote in one post that officials who were 'stealing' votes were committing 'sedition and treason.'"
Paul Gosar's office did not comment on the report.
In Dave Gosar's opinion, many Republicans believe that if they don't follow Mr. Trump, then they will alienate his base supporters.
"It's a cult," Dave Gosar said about the Republican Party.
Paul Gosar's rhetoric and politics have left the Gosar family deeply divided, his brother said. Of the 10 siblings, he said six have spoken out against their lawmaker brother. Dave Gosar said three of his brothers, as well as their parents, who are Trump supporters, have stayed silent.
"It's not been fun," Dave Gosar said. "None of us like to do this. Every time we do one of these interviews, we feel like we're doing the right thing but it still leaves a bad taste in your mouth."
Dave Gosar said he hasn't spoken to his brother in five years. But, he and his five siblings have chosen to publicly rebuke their brother because they have a "duty to speak out" And, he said, he hoped that "by speaking out, other people in the same situation would also be embolden to speak out."
"What am I supposed to do as an American?" Dave Gosar asked. "I would encourage more people to speak out."
