DENVER — Republican House Minority Leader Mike Lynch told a talk radio show Monday that he has “received peace” from Jesus for driving drunk while armed with a handgun. His colleagues may be less forgiving.
Fresh off surviving a no-confidence vote within the House GOP on a 9-9 tie Monday, Lynch told KHOW-AM's Dan Caplis Show that media reports on his previously secret 2022 arrest are a “hit job.”
"The media were upset they didn't know about it a year and a half ago, so they took it to me," Lynch told Caplis.
Colorado State Patrol video from the September 2022 arrest shows Lynch asking a trooper to keep his arrest quiet. Details of Lynch’s arrest, when he was driving 90 mph on Interstate 25 with a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit, were first reported last week by The Denver Post. Lynch is on probation for the offense.
The trooper wrote that he feared for his safety when Lynch reached for a handgun in his pocket during the traffic stop.
"I have received peace from my Lord and Savior,” Lynch told Caplis, adding, “I’m human, and I do human things.”
The House GOP caucus was evenly split Monday on whether to remove Lynch from his post. Colleagues expressed frustration that Lynch did not disclose his 2-month-old arrest to them when he was first elected to leadership in late 2022.
One representative was absent from the caucus meeting on Monday. A second no confidence vote is possible Tuesday.
Lynch, who is also one of several GOP candidates for Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, had initially struck a contrite tone when the news of the drunken driving arrest surfaced.
Lynch told 9NEWS political reporter Marshall Zelinger that he had no intention of disclosing the arrest to colleagues or voters, but that his willingness to answer questions when it became public was a mark of leadership.
“I have fully accepted, and I own the mistake I made in 2022, that’s what leaders do,” Lynch said in a written statement following Monday’s no-confidence vote.
> Video below: Watch the full interview with Mike Lynch:
Within hours, Lynch had pivoted to signaling toward the Republican base with his comments on KHOW radio blaming journalists, citing his Christian faith and suggesting that the reason he was armed while driving drunk was due to the fear of crime in Denver.
“Yes, I had a gun on me because I work in Denver, right?” Lynch told Caplis. “That is a safety measure that I keep with me coming in and out of the Capitol.”
Lynch was arrested in September, while the legislature was not in session. He was stopped while driving between a non-political event in Fort Collins and his home in Wellington, 92 and 105 miles from Denver, respectively.
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