Arizona state senator slammed for Buffalo shooting comments

By BOB CHRISTIE
Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Senate has voted to open an ethics investigation into a firebrand Republican member who tweeted inflammatory comments about last weekend’s racist attack at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket. But the Senate rejected a bid by minority Democrats to immediately expel Sen. Wendy Rogers for her tweet implying the federal government was behind the Buffalo shooting that left 10 dead. GOP Majority Leader Rick Gray said due process considerations require an ethics probe. Democrats were furious, noting Rogers was censured in March for tweets and statements that embraced white nationalism and called for violence. Rogers said nothing during discussion but later issued a statement saying her tweet had been “taken completely out of context.”