As of 2020, Gosar has a "0" out of 100 rating from the
Humane Society of the United States.
[94] Gosar supports dismantling the
Endangered Species Act, calling it "status quo" and "costly, burdensome and uncertain."
[95]
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
Planned Parenthood instead of
climate change. He wrote that he would treat Francis the same way he believes "leftist politicians" should be treated.
[96] 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."
[97] He called
climate science "questionable" and criticized
Laudato si', Francis's encyclical on the environment.
[96]
Gosar did not attend Francis's September 24 address, the only member of Congress not to do so.
[98][99] Shortly after Francis's visit, Gosar used his opposition to his address as a fundraising tool.
[98][99] 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"
[17] and positioned Gosar as the victim of "unprecedented attacks" from "the liberals, the left-wing media and the Obama political machine."
[99]
Defense
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.
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."
[104][105][106]
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."
[107] 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."
Immigration
The Arizona Republic described Gosar as "one of the staunchest opponents in Congress to legalizing undocumented dreamers".
[118] Gosar stated, "I strongly believe we need to immediately secure our border and oppose
amnesty for anyone who blatantly violates our law."
[119] He has cosponsored legislation to repeal the 14th Amendment, thus eliminating
birthright citizenship for children born in the US to undocumented immigrants.
[120][121] 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."
[122]
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.
[123] He has proposed a 10-year moratorium on all immigration.
[124]
Juneteenth
In June 2021, Gosar was one of 14 House Republicans to vote against legislation to establish June 19, or
Juneteenth, as a federal holiday.
[125]
Steve King
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.
[126] In February 2021, Gosar spoke with King at the second annual
America First Political Action Conference, hosted by white nationalist
Nick Fuentes.
[127][76]
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.
[128] 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 Billiton.
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.
[129]
Ties to extremist militia groups
In January 2021,
The New York Times detailed Gosar's comments on and alleged ties to the
Proud Boys and the
Oath Keepers, some of whose members participated in the
2021 storming of the United States Capitol.
[130] 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."
[131]
Tommy Robinson
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.
[132] 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.
[133]
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.
[134][135] 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."
Unite The 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.
[136] Gosar also suggested that
Jason Kessler, the organizer of the Charlottesville rally, may have been backed by
George Soros, whom he described as having "turned in his own people to the
Nazis".
[137] 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";
[138] they also characterized his statements as an "anti-semitic dog whistle".
[139]