Trump cowboy seeks 2nd act in politics after Capitol breach

Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin, the founder of Cowboys for Trump, takes in the view from his ranch in Tularosa, N.M., on Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Griffin is reviled and revered in politically conservative Otero County as he confronts criminal charges for joining protests on an outdoor terrace of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. He's also fighting for his political future amid a recall initiative and state probes into his finances. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee) Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin, the founder of Cowboys for Trump, takes in the view from his ranch in Tularosa, N.M., on Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Griffin is reviled and revered in politically conservative Otero County as he confronts criminal charges for joining protests on an outdoor terrace of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. He's also fighting for his political future amid a recall initiative and state probes into his finances. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee)

By MORGAN LEE / Associated Press June 21, 2021 7 min read

TULAROSA, N.M. (AP) – He rodeoed in a Buffalo Bill-style Wild West show, carried his message on horseback from the Holy Land to Times Square and was invited to the White House to meet the president.

But luck may have run out for this cowboy pastor who rode to national political fame by embracing President Donald Trump with a series of horseback caravans and came crashing down with a defiant stand Jan. 6 against President Joe Biden’s election.

Today, Couy Griffin is divorced, disparaged by family and confronts a political recall drive, a state corruption investigation and federal charges.

And yet he remains determined. He sees himself as governor one day.

The first-term county commissioner forged a group of rodeo acquaintances in 2019 into a promotional Cowboys for Trump posse to spread his conservative message about gun rights, immigration controls and abortion restrictions.