The January 6 Committee has released new texts messages revealing the extent of congressional Republicans’ involvement in Donald Trump’s coup attempt.
As reported by CNN, the text messages show that GOP Sen. Mike Lee, of Utah and Rep. Chip Roy, of Texas, exchanged more than 100 text messages with then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows as they aggressively pushed strategies to overturn the election results.
Shortly after the election, both Lee and Roy worked hard to challenge the former president’s election loss through November, the texts show.
“This fight is about the fundamental fairness and integrity of our election system,” Lee texted Meadows before encouraging Trump to “keep fighting.”
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“The nation is depending upon your continued resolve. Stay strong and keep fighting Mr. President,” Lee wrote.
Meanwhile, Roy was requesting “ammo” in the form of “fraud examples.”
“We need ammo. We need fraud examples. We need it this weekend,” Roy texted on Nov. 7, 2020.
Despite their initial enthusiasm, however, the lawmakers grew increasingly concerned about the tactics pushed by Trump and his allies outside allies were “driving a stake in the heart of the federal republic,” according to CNN.
In a text dated Dec. 31, 2020, Roy tells Mark Meadows: “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.”
A source familiar with the committee’s work told CNN that 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.”
