Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) praises conspiracy theorist Stew Peters

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) appeared on The Stew Peters Show on June 2, 2023, and praised the eponymous host at the end of their conversation, telling him to “keep preaching.”

The links between Biggs and far-right extremists have been well documented. Media Matters has previously reported on Stew Peters' particular brand of far-right extremism:

Stew Peters is a right-wing streamer and influencer who has hosted numerous Republican officials and helped spread viral misinformation. He is also a white nationalist who alleged that Black people are genetically prone to criminality; claimed that Jewish people control the media and Judaism is a “death cult built on the blood of murdered babies”; repeatedly attacked LGBTQ people with slurs and suggested that they be shot; and told his audience that politicians, pro-vaccine advocates, and journalists must be executed.

Additionally, Peters is a purveyor of bizarre and dangerous conspiracy theories, including those related to QAnon, COVID-19, Pizzagate, flat Earth, the Uvalde and Sandy Hook mass shootings, and Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Peters is the host of The Stew Peters Show and distributes other programs on his streaming network. In the past, he has worked as a bounty hunter and had run-ins with the law. Peters also attempted to be a rapper with no apparent success.

From the June 2, 2023, edition of The Stew Peters Show

STEW PETERS (HOST): Marjorie Taylor Greene is in the Freedom Caucus. She basically ran her entire campaign in Georgia on the premise that she was going to identify and then expose and then destroy RINOs. Kevin McCarthy is the epitome of the term, and then she flip-flopped, turned her back on her entire Georgia constituency, propped this guy up, and then voted for this disastrous deal. I mean, what's happening in the Freedom Caucus?

REP. ANDY BIGGS (R-AZ): Well, what's happening is you're actually seeing kind of a – can I put it this way, a winnowing you're seeing – this kind of stratification. You're actually seeing that that the toe that came out and fought Kevin McCarthy in January plus we probably had another fifteen that voted with us in the latest deal. Maybe a few more than that even. You have a few that have essentially wanted to claim the mantle of Freedom Caucus because that's what their constituents demand, and then they didn't bother to deliver on the votes. And so I'm not sure what's happening other than the core is still there and there's still a group of people that we're still fighting. And that's where if you go see Motion to Vacate, that's where it's coming from. It's coming from the Freedom Caucus.

PETERS: But I got to be honest at this point, here's a real question Why should the American people listen to the federal government at all? Why should they just not be completely ungovernable at this point?

BIGGS: Well, my response is this is I will make mine a little bit more nuanced. Why would anybody trust the Republicans anymore? I mean, that's really that's becomes the question. And also, I can tell you is this I've looked I went back and I'm looking at the platform again. The platform is righteous. It is where we need to be as a country. But what you have is, is and the platform is put together by grassroots people who go to the national RNC and they put together this great platform. But the problem is, for whatever reason, there's a disconnect. And I will tell you what I think drives it. I think it's money that drives it. Kevin McCarthy – I mean, that's what I heard when people said, Well, we need to let Kevin McCarthy as speaker. And I said, Why is that? Well, because he raises more money than anybody else. Well, I said he should. He was the minority leader. I mean, of course he's going to raise more money. But the other aspect to it, too, Stew, is that the K Street, they don't care which party is in power, the special interest lobbyists. They just simply don't care. And a lot of these members of Congress, they get there. And I don't know. I mean, I've actually had people say, but Andy, he's the captain of the team. We elected him to be the captain. And I said, I tell him, you know, who what team I belong to. I don't belong to the team Congressional Republican Conference. I belong to Team Fifth Congressional District of the United States of Arizona, which sends me to Congress. I belong to the team that's that actually believes that the oath of the Constitution is sacrosanct. And I believe in the team that says I get to look God in the eye at some point and say, what the heck did you do? What the heck did you do?

...

PETERS: The FBI should be abolished and most of its agents at the top should be arrested in my opinion.

BIGGS: Yes.

PETERS: There's a criminal organization that's operating as a terrorist cell in our country right now. The border that you mentioned is a physical, military-style invasion. It's actually being planned and carried out by our own federal government. The shots that continue to come, the spending, the funding of Ukraine, all of these things are lies. We live under, the empire of lies, and all of these things are detrimental to the American people. I mean, from where I sit, it looks like our government is no longer a government that's representative of the people, but it's a corporate crime syndicate that has openly declared war on its people.

...

PETERS: You hit the nail on the head. We have lost the rule of law. We have lost our military has turned its back on our people by not performing its one sole function, which is to protect our borders and to protect our people from being invaded by our enemies. And that's exactly what's happening right now. Our federal government has turned into a crime syndicate of corruption, a sea of corruption, an empire of lies. We have to take this back, and it's going to require some incredibly uncomfortable conversations if we really want to see true accountability. I know that it's difficult for you to go to Washington, and I know that that city is a demonically held cesspool of filth and nastiness and bribes and blackmail and money funneling and insider trading. I know what you're talking about when you say corruption. I know that that's going on. And that's why virtually everybody that goes there loses their moral upstanding and they're not morally upright any longer. They turn their back on their people. You haven't done that. And that takes a lot of courage. And so you are a very, very fine minority in Washington. And we thank you. And I know that your constituents will as well. Thank you so much for being here, Congressman Andy Biggs.

BIGGS: Thanks, Stew. Keep preaching. Keep preaching, my friend.