US Congressman Wants Reporter Sued Over Common Figure of Speech

Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar called for a local reporter to get sued after appearing to take a figure of speech in her article literally.

The Arizona Republic published an article on Saturday detailing Kelli Ward's surprise victory over the weekend to become the Arizona GOP's next chairwoman. Ward, who has mounted primary challenges from the right in past elections, is expected to take the state party in a more conservative direction ahead of the 2020 elections.

In the opening paragraph of the article, author Yvette Sanchez described Ward as a "bomb-throwing conservative."

"Kelli Ward, the bomb-throwing conservative former state senator and loyalist to President Donald Trump, upended the race to lead the Arizona Republican Party by beating the establishment favorite and incumbent GOP chairman, Jonathan Lines," the paragraph reads.

The phrase "bomb-throwing" is a widely used phrase in political media to describe harsh rhetoric or strongly-worded exchanges between individuals. Nowhere in the article did Sanchez appear to suggest Ward had thrown actual bombs.

However, Gosar, a representative of Arizona's 4th congressional district and a longtime Ward ally, accused Sanchez of defamation.

"Yvonne you defamed Kelli by accusing her in print of literally throwing bombs. Falsely accusing someone of a crime is defamation. You made no attempt to portray that as a metaphor but present it as fact. You should be sued. #fakenews," Gosar tweeted Sunday.

SOURCE