My introduction based on
the following excellent and stunning CNN article on events from election night
2020 right up to, during, and after the January 6 Capitol insurrection now
coming to light for the public.
Key Republican members from
Congress and former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows show clearly
their efforts and attempts to overturn the election to keep Trump in power.
This conclusion from the
CNN article pretty much says it all in a short statement from Rep. Chip Roy
(R-TX) in his text to Mark Meadows.
After the Capitol violence unfolded and Congress returned to session, Rep.
Roy said on the House floor and said: “The President should never have spun
up certain Americans to believe something that simply cannot be.”
Roy then texted Meadows: “This is a sh*t show. Fix this now.”
The CNN article (quite long) with this headline follows (Note: I boxed off key parts to fit the blog for emphasis that much continues
to this very day):
“CNN Exclusive: “We need ammo. We need
fraud examples. We need it this weekend.” What the Meadows texts reveal about
how two Trump congressional allies lobbied the White House to overturn the
election.”
By Ryan
Nobles, Annie Grayer, Zachary Cohen, and Jamie Gangel
In the weeks between the 2020 election and the January 6
attack on the US Capitol, almost 100 text messages from two staunch GOP allies
of then-President Donald Trump reveal an aggressive attempt to lobby, encourage, and eventually warn the White House over its efforts to overturn the election,
according to messages obtained by the House select committee and reviewed by
CNN.
More of Mark Meadows texts are here and also from CNN.
The texts, which have not
been previously reported, were sent by GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and GOP Rep. Chip Roy of Texas to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
The text exchanges show that both members of Congress
initially supported legal challenges to the election but ultimately came to
sour on the effort and the tactics deployed by Trump and his team.
Roy texted Meadows on January 1, 2021. That text was first released in December by
the House select committee and described as being written by a House Freedom
Caucus member.
Roy's authorship had not been previously reported for this: “We're driving a
stake in the heart of the federal republic.”
When situated in the overall timeline of events between the
election and January 6, the series of texts from Lee and Roy provide new
details about how two Trump allies went from fierce advocates of the former
President's push to overturn Joe Biden's win to disheartened
bystanders.
By January 3, Lee was texting Meadows that the effort: “Could all
backfire badly.”
But shortly after the
election, both men were encouraging Trump to keep fighting.
In a series of texts to
Meadows on November 7, Lee offered: “His unequivocal support for you to exhaust
every legal and constitutional remedy at your disposal to restore Americans
faith in our elections.”
Lee went on: “This fight is about the fundamental fairness and
integrity of our election system. The nation is depending upon your continued
resolve. Stay strong and keep fighting Mr. President.”
Roy wrote to Meadows November 7: “We need ammo. We need fraud examples.
We need it this weekend.”
In a statement to
CNN, Lee's communications director, Lee Lonsberry, said: “I'd like to
highlight that Senator Lee has been fully transparent” – he then pointed out how Lee
had called for an investigation into claims of fraud in the 2020 election but
ultimately recognized Biden as president-elect and voted to certify the
electoral results on January 6.
Roy Communications
Director Nate Madden told CNN: “The text messages speak for themselves.”
An attorney for Meadows did not respond to CNN's request for
comment.
A spokesperson for the select committee declined to comment.
A source familiar
with the committee's work tells CNN: “Lee's texts reflect he was a
cheerleader before he was against it. He uses legal language to push blatant
conspiracy theorists into the Trump orbit.”
Can you help her get in?
Over a few days in November, Lee lobbied Meadows to get attorney Sidney
Powell access to Trump writing to Meadows on November 7: “Sydney Powell is
saying that she needs to get in to see the president, but she's being kept away
from him. Apparently she has a strategy to keep things alive and put several
states back in play. Can you help get her in?” Lee then sent Meadows Powell's
cell number and her email. On November 9, Lee again pressed Meadows about
Powell, calling her a “straight shooter.”
That same day, Roy
warned Meadows about Trump's approach, texting him: “We must urge the
President to tone down the rhetoric, and approach the legal challenge firmly,
intelligently and effectively without resorting to throwing wild desperate
haymakers or whipping his base into a conspiracy frenzy.
Then came that now-infamous news
conference on November 19, where members of Trump's
legal team: Powell, Rudy Giuliani, and Jenna Ellis, laid out a series of false
claims and conspiracy theories about alleged voter fraud. The messages started
to take on a more critical tone.
Roy texted on November 19, a few hours after the news conference
wrapped: “Hey brother – we need substance or people are going to break.”
Two hours later, Lee texted Meadows with serious concerns, saying he
was “Worried about the Powell press conference. The potential defamation liability for the president is
significant here. For the campaign and for the president personally. Unless
Powell can back up everything she said, which I kind of doubt she can.”
Meadows responded: “I agree. Very concerned.”
The news conference came as Trump's legal losses piled up in his effort to
challenge the results in key swing states.
From Powell to
Eastman
By late November, Lee had shifted away from Powell and
started promoting right-wing lawyer John Eastman, who a federal judge (Judge
David Carter) in California said last month may have been planning a crime
with Trump as they sought to disrupt the January 6 congressional certification
of the presidential election, and he called it: “A coup in search of a legal theory.”
Privately Roy was also texting Meadows with support for Eastman, and
criticizing Giuliani (November 22, 2020): “Have you talked to John Eastman?
Get Eastman to file in front of PA board of elections ... Get data in front of
public domain. Frigging Rudy needs to hush.”
By December 2020, both Republican lawmakers (Lee and Roy) express
grave concerns to Meadows about the plan to challenge the certification of the
election on January 6.
Lee asked Meadows for guidance on December 16: “If you want
senators to object, we need to hear from you on that ideally getting some
guidance on what arguments to raise. I think we're now passed the point where
we can expect anyone will do it without some direction and a strong evidentiary
argument.”
Roy expressed even more concern in a text to Meadows on December 31,
2020: “The president should call everyone off. It's the only path. If we
substitute the will of states through electors with a vote by congress every 4 years...
we have destroyed the Electoral College... Respectfully,” Roy.
By this time, Trump and his allies were working behind the
scenes to enlist portions of the federal government in the effort to overturn
the election. That included urging DOJ officials, including then-AG William
Barr, to investigate fraud even after the agency had declared there was none.
Trump was also putting heavy pressure on then-VP Mike Pence not to certify the
election on January 6.
In a January 3 text
to Meadows, Lee argued that Trump's effort to have states send alternate slates
of electors to Congress was not legitimate saying: “I only know that this
will end badly for the President unless we have the Constitution on our side. And
unless these states submit new slates of Trump electors pursuant to state law,
we do not.”
As CNN has previously
reported, the plan to replace authentic electors with fake ones in a handful of
swing states was orchestrated by allies of the former President and overseen by
his then-attorney Rudy Giuliani.
None of those alternate slates of pro-Trump electors
received sign-off from state officials or were put before Congress.
While Lee and Roy both voted to certify the electoral results in favor of Biden, more than 100 of their GOP colleagues in both the House and Senate did not.
Chief among them were Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Josh
Hawley (R-MO), both of whom Lee called
out in his texts to Meadows saying: “I have grave concerns with the way my
friend Ted is going about this effort. This will not inure to the benefit of
the president.”
Lee then added that
unless new, competing slates of electors were put forward in accordance with
state law, the net effect: “Could help people like Ted and Josh to the
detriment of DJT.”
When January 6 finally came, neither Lee nor Roy joined
their colleagues in objecting to the 2020 presidential election results.
Then, after the violence unfolded and Congress returned to session, Roy said on the House floor: “The President should never have spun up certain Americans to believe something that simply cannot be.”
Roy then sent his coup de grâce text to Meadows: “This is a sh*t show. Fix this now.”
My 2 Cents: As I said this is a great historical record of events shortly after the November 2020 election that is very troublesome for the Republicans today along with Trump and a few others still in Congress, plus many running for Congress, or worse yes, many GOP states changing voting laws for one single purpose to appease Trump and his “Big Lie – Election Was Stolen BS” (which it was not), and then the January 6 insurrection - it was no “biggie” still running in many GOP camps.
That is a disgustingly sick and a horrible stain on the country as well as on decent Republicans as well.
Very many in the GOP have lost their way by sticking with Trump along with their raw hatred for every living DEM in America after they lost Congress.
If you want a bottom line on all this - it would be this: Today, right now, We see an angry mean-spirited GOP owned and operated by Trump with one sole purpose: To restructure America in his image and for him and his namesake clan.
Thanks for stopping by.
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