The Meadows texts

TPM published a trove of texts across a series of articles that then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows exchanged between the 2020 election and Biden’s inauguration with prominent Republicans, including 34 members of Congress.

  Aaron Rupar

Ten more than worked with a German Nazi in a coup attempt during WWII.

Headline-grabbing new revelations include Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) suggesting Republican state legislatures in states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin just “intervene and declare Trump winner,” as well as Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) pushing Meadows on January 17 (just three days before Biden’s inauguration) to have Trump invoke “Marshall Law.”

(Norman’s misspelling of “martial” was the same as Marjorie Taylor Greene’s in another nakedly pro-coup text Meadows received that same day.)

These people represent in Congress. Who said Republicans aren't sending their best?

Following are comments by Hunter Walker, the TPM reporter writing the series about Meadows' texts.

I think the number one thing is just how alarming it is to see these things coming out of the phones of members of Congress and people who aren’t in Congress but are high-ranking associates of the then-president of the United States.

This is not just about political disagreements. We’re talking about violent rhetoric — fighting, kicking ass. The lack of basic information literacy — you’re seeing members of Congress treat YouTube videos from foreign countries as if they’re gospel.

[...]

You’re seeing people unspool. In some cases, the messages are thousands of words long, which is not normal. They have no editing. They have completely unhinged conspiracy theories. The thread that goes through it is it’s all in service of this authoritarian goal, which is completely disregarding a democratic election.

[...]

Nearly 20 percent of these messages are coming from members of Congress, and really all of those people just got a promotion in terms of Republicans taking over the majority [in the House].

[...]

I also think there’s a lot in the media about the MAGA wing versus the institutional Republican Party, and these messages really give the lie to that. This is the institutional Republican Party.

And, from the Talking Points Memo article itself:

The texts are part of a trove Meadows turned over to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack that was obtained by TPM. For more information about the story behind the text log and our procedures for publishing the messages, read the introduction to this series. Meadows’ exchanges shed new light on the extent of congressional involvement in Trump’s efforts to spread baseless conspiracy theories about his defeat and his attempts to reverse it. The messages document the role members played in the campaign to subvert the election as it was conceived, built, and reached its violent climax on Jan. 6, 2021. The texts are rife with links to far-right websites, questionable legal theories, violent rhetoric, and advocacy for authoritarian power grabs.

[...]

Reached via cell phone on Monday morning, [Ralph\ Norman asked TPM for a chance to review his messages before commenting.

“It’s been two years,” Norman said. “Send that text to me and I’ll take a look at it.”

TPM forwarded Norman a copy of the message calling for “Marshall Law!!” We did not receive any further response from the congressman.

[...]

Meadows received at least 364 messages from Republican members of Congress who discussed attempts to reverse the election results with him. He sent at least 95 messages of his own.

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The members who messaged Meadows about challenging the election included some of the highest-profile figures on the right flank in Congress, such as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), all of whom are identified as playing leading roles in the effort to undo Trump’s defeat.

One message that was dated Dec. 30, 2020 and was identified as coming from Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller described Brooks as a “ringleader” of the effort to block the electoral certification.

[...]

Meadows’ messages also provide an indication of the support the election objection received from right-wing dark money groups. The text log shows how the Republican efforts to fight the electoral certification at the Capitol became more organized and gained steam in the days after Biden’s victory. On Nov. 9, Edward Corrigan, the president and CEO of the Conservative Partnership Institute, wrote Meadows to say Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) would be holding a meeting about legal strategies with his colleagues at the organization’s Capitol Hill townhouse.

“Mike Lee has about a dozen Senators coming over to CPI tonight and they wanted to hear from a legal expert on what’s going on with the campaign,” Corrigan wrote.

[...]

CPI, which would go on to employ Meadows after Trump left office, is a dark money group that has been described by NPR as “among the most powerful messaging forces in the MAGA universe.”

[...]

CPI was not the only conservative dark money group that aided the push to overturn the election. On Dec. 2, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) wrote Meadows and indicated he was participating in Georgia rallies organized by Club For Growth.

[...]

While some of the more than 450 texts that Republican members of Congress exchanged with Meadows indicate they were disturbed by the violence of Jan. 6, the messages also show in colorful detail how the same members of Congress played a direct role in ratcheting up opposition to the election result and in stoking Trump’s baseless claims of fraud. (Officials at every level of government including Republicans and members of the Trump administration have confirmed there was no widespread fraud in the 2020 election.)

  TPM

The 34:
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ)
Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA)
Rep. Billy Long (R-MO)
Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH)
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX)
Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX)
Rep. Mark Green (R-TN)
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX)
Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC)
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ)
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC)
Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX)
Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA)
Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC)
Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN)
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH)
Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC)
Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA)
Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA)
Rep. Rick Allen (R-GA)
Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-OH)
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL)
Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA)
Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-GA)
Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL)
Rep. Fred Keller (R-PA)
Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC)
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA)
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT)
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)
Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY)
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI)
Sen. David Perdue (R-GA)
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND)

UPDATE:  The 36

In an open letter first shared with The Hill, the group — which includes 36 former House members from both parties — is calling on sitting lawmakers in the lower chamber to “demand that the Office of Congressional Ethics thoroughly investigate” members linked to the Capitol riot. If necessary, the ex-lawmakers write, they also want the House to “exercise its disciplinary functions.”

“As is now clear, January 6th was only one event among many that together constituted an extraordinary campaign to overturn an election,” the letter reads. “The scale and audacity of the campaign is profoundly troubling.”

“Among the most alarming findings is that various members of Congress participated in it,” the former lawmakers added.

[...]

“We now know, for example, that sitting lawmakers corresponded and met with White House officials and allies to plot various prongs of the campaign, including to advocate that the president declare martial law; that states submit false certificates of electoral votes to Congress; that the vice president, in contravention of his constitutional duties, interfere with the counting of electoral votes; and that federal law enforcement authorities be enlisted to interfere with the election; among other startling facts. We also now know that various sitting lawmakers sought presidential pardons,” the letter reads.

At its hearing in June, the Jan. 6 select committee named six House Republican lawmakers who requested pardons or contacted officials regarding pardons after voting to overturn election results in states the day of the riot: Reps. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Mo Brooks (Ala.), Louie Gohmert (Texas), Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Scott Perry (Pa.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.).

[...]


The signatories of the letter are former Reps. John Barrow (D-Ga.), Steve Bartlett (R-Texas), Robert E. Bauman (R-Md.), Bruce Braley (D-Iowa), Lois Capps (D-Calif.), Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.), M. Robert Carr (D-Mich.), Rod Chandler (R-Wash.), Tom Coleman (R-Mo.), Mickey Edwards (R-Okla.), David F. Emery (R-Maine), Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.), Paul Hodes (D-N.H.), Elizabeth Holtzman (D-N.Y.), Bob Inglis (R-S.C.), Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Ohio), Mike Kopetski (D-Ore.), Larry LaRocco (D-Idaho), John LeBoutillier (R-N.Y.), Mel Levine (D-Calif.), Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), Matthew F. McHugh (D-N.Y.), Glenn Nye (D-Va.), Thomas Perriello (D-Va.), Reid Ribble (R-Wis.), Scott Rigell (R-Va.), Claudine Schneider (R-R.I.), Philip Sharp (D-Ind.), Peter Smith (R-Vt.), Alan Steelman (R-Texas), Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), Peter G. Torkildsen (R-Mass.), David Trott (R-Mich.), James T. Walsh (R-N.Y.) and Joe Walsh (R-Ill.).
  

UPDATE: