Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, speaks throughout a summit in Logan on April 17, 2021. Spenser Heaps, Deseret Information
Newly revealed textual content messages between Sen. Mike Lee and then-White Home chief of employees Mark Meadows present how far the Utah Republican went in exploring avenues for the Trump administration to overturn the 2020 presidential election earlier than in the end deciding they have been useless ends.
CNN first reported Friday on the just about 100 textual content messages Lee and Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, despatched to Meadows lobbying, encouraging and finally warning the White Home over its efforts to overturn the election. The information outlet reviewed the messages that have been obtained by the Home choose committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol.
The textual content exchanges present how Lee and Roy initially supported authorized challenges to the election however in the end got here to bitter on the trouble and the techniques deployed by former President Donald Trump and his workforce.
In a collection of texts to Meadows on Nov. 7, Lee provided his “unequivocal help so that you can exhaust each authorized and constitutional treatment at your disposal to revive Individuals religion in our elections.”
“This combat is in regards to the basic equity and integrity of our election system. The nation is relying upon your continued resolve. Keep sturdy and hold combating Mr. President.”
Additionally on Nov. 7, Roy wrote to Meadows, “We'd like ammo. We'd like fraud examples. We'd like it this weekend.”
Your complete collection of textual content messages from Lee and Roy to Meadows is posted on CNN.
Lee spokesman Lee Lonsberry instructed CNN that the senator has been “absolutely clear” about his involvement, noting how Lee had known as for an investigation into claims of fraud within the 2020 election however in the end acknowledged Joe Biden as president-elect and voted to certify the electoral outcomes on Jan. 6.
“The textual content messages inform the identical story Sen. Lee instructed from the ground of the Senate the day he voted to certify the election outcomes of every state within the nation,” Lonsberry mentioned in an announcement to the Deseret Information. “They inform the story of a U.S. senator fulfilling his responsibility to Utah and the American folks by following the Structure.”
Lonsberry additionally pointed to a speech Lee gave on the Senate ground the place he mentioned he concluded Congress’ solely position within the presidential election is to open and depend states’ electoral votes.
However earlier than Lee reached that conclusion, the textual content messages, overlaying a interval from Nov. 7, 2020, to Jan. 4, 2021, reveal his efforts to encourage the White Home to pursue authorized treatments and techniques for states to submit competing slates of electors, which might swing the election outcomes Trump’s approach.
“Sydney Powell is saying that she must get in to see the president, however she’s being avoided him. Apparently she has a method to maintain issues alive and put a number of states again in play. Are you able to assist her get in?” Lee texted Meadows on Nov. 7.
Powell, an lawyer who has been described as a conspiracy theorist, tried to assist Trump overturn the election.
In a Nov. 9 textual content, Lee calls her a “straight shooter.”
Lee apparently later soured on Powell’s efforts, texting Meadows, “Until Powell can instantly substantiate what she mentioned at the moment, the president ought to most likely disassociate himself and refute any claims that may’t be substantiated.”
The senator then turned his consideration to John Eastman, a conservative regulation professor who claimed in a confidential memo that then-Vice President Mike Pence might hand the election to Trump as a result of seven states had submitted dueling slates of electors to Congress.
“John Eastman has some actually fascinating analysis on this. The excellent news is is that Eastman is proposing an method that in contrast to what Sidney Powell has suggest may very well be examined in a short time,” Lee wrote Meadows on Nov. 23.
Lee then began his personal investigation into the declare that seven states have been switching their electoral votes for Biden to Trump.
“If a really small handful of states have been to have their legislatures appoint different slates of delegates, there may very well be a path,” Lee instructed Meadows.
Lee began calling state officers in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona, all swing states that Trump misplaced.
He mentioned he present in conversations with governors, attorneys common, secretaries of state and legislative leaders in these states that not one was prepared or inclined to decertify or recertify their electoral votes.
By Jan. 3, Lee was texting Meadows that the trouble “might all backfire badly.”
“I’d like to be confirmed fallacious about my considerations. However I actually suppose this might all backfire badly until now we have legislatures submitting trump slates (primarily based on a conclusion that this was the right consequence below state regulation). Even setting apart constitutional considerations, this will likely be dangerous to the president if we don’t channel this effort correctly. We merely don't have any authority to reject a state’s licensed electoral votes within the absence of a dueling slates, with the Trump slate coming from a state legislative dedication,” Lee wrote to Meadows.
Lee, who was just lately endorsed by Trump for reelection, instructed Meadows on Jan. 3 that he didn’t suppose Trump was greedy the excellence between what Congress can do and what he needs it to do.
“Nor do I believe he’s greedy the excellence between what sure members are saying that sound like they might assist him, however would actually harm him. He’s received a really actual alternative for a win in 2024. That chance may very well be harmed in a number of methods this effort.”
On Jan. 4, Trump publicly expressed his displeasure that Lee had decided that Congress had no energy to overturn the election outcomes.
“I’ve been spending 14 hours a day for the final week making an attempt to unravel this for him. To have him take a shot at me like that in such a public setting with out even asking me about it's fairly discouraging,” Lee texted Meadows.
Meadows apologized to Lee and mentioned Trump would name him.
“I’m making an attempt to determine a path that I can persuasively defend, and this gained’t make it any simpler, particularly if others now suppose I’m doing this as a result of he went after me,” Lee texted. “This simply makes it much more sophisticated. And it was sophisticated already.”
Lee instructed Meadows that his credibility to assist Trump was now impaired.
“So very sorry,” Meadows texted Lee on Jan. 4. “I instructed him that you just and I've been working it exhausting on his behalf.”
On Jan. 6, an offended, pro-Trump mobbed stormed the Capitol as lawmakers counted the electoral votes, forcing lawmakers to run for canopy earlier than returning later to certify Biden because the winner.
Lee’s political opponents within the upcoming election jumped on the textual content messages Friday.
“Sen. Mike Lee researched overturning a lawful, democratic election for partisan and political acquire. The second Lee realized the gravity of Trump’s makes an attempt to undermine the 2020 election, he ought to have stopped researching the legality of such actions and stopped pressuring native legislators,” Republican challenger Becky Edwards mentioned in an announcement.
Edward mentioned Lee has an obligation to guard and defend the Structure and democratic course of.
“As a substitute, he allowed the scenario to proceed and enabled these looking for to maintain themselves in energy, regardless of the implications,” she mentioned.
Former Utah Democratic Rep. Ben McAdams who known as Lee the “ringleader in a vicious conspiracy that left the Structure hanging by a thread.”
McAdams, who's backing impartial Evan McMullin within the race towards Lee, mentioned in a tweet that Lee’s efforts to undermine democracy will “go down as a darkish stain in Utah political historical past.”
Mike Lee was a ringleader in a seditious conspiracy that left the Structure hanging by a thread. The revelations at the moment about Mike Lee’s relentless efforts to undermine American democracy will go down as a darkish stain in Utah political historical past. #utpolpic.twitter.com/Y2qkaumtHc
— Ben McAdams (@BenMcAdams) April 15, 2022
McMullin, who has hammered Lee over efforts to assist Trump keep in workplace, tweeted that Lee wants to come back clear on his involvement. “He has no place within the U.S. Senate,” he mentioned.
.@SenMikeLee was much more concerned within the scheme to overturn the election than we beforehand knew, even pursuing loopholes within the regulation to ship illegitimate electors from key states. Lee should come clear on his involvement. He has no place within the U.S. Senate. https://t.co/EDE65SCHMC
— Evan McMullin 🇺🇸 (@EvanMcMullin) April 15, 2022