The certification of Joe Biden's election to the White House was delayed after rioters broke into the U.S. Capitol.
Jim Jordan was trying to do the same thing.
At midnight on January 5, Jordan sent a text to MarkMeadows, the White House chief of staff, offering a legal rationale for the president's demand that Vice President Mike Pence preside over the electoral college.
Jordan wrote that Pence should call out all electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional.
I have pushed for this, but not sure it will happen.
The text exchange is one of a number of startling evidence that shows the deep involvement of some House Republicans in Trump's attempt to stay in power. The evidence shows that several GOP lawmakers were involved in the campaign to reverse the results of the election.
As they prepare to launch public hearings in June, members of the House Jan. 6 committee are making explicit a connection. The Republicans plotted with Trump and the rioters who attacked the Capitol were aligned in their goals, if not the mob's violent tactics, creating a convergence that nearly upended the nation's peaceful transfer of power.
The chairman of the Jan. 6 committee told The Associated Press last week that a lot of House members and a few senators had more than just a passing role in what went on.
The Jan. 6 panel has been getting new information about what lawmakers said and did in the weeks before the insurrection. Three GOP lawmakers have been asked to testify. All have refused. Other lawmakers could be called soon.
The Jan. 6 committee has refrained from issuing subpoenas because of the repercussions. The lack of cooperation from lawmakers hasn't stopped the panel from obtaining new information.
The latest court document was submitted in response to a lawsuit and contained excerpts from just a few of the interviews the panel has conducted. The information includes information on several high-level meetings where Trump's allies pondered ways to give him another term.
The ideas include naming fake slates of electors in seven swing states, declaring martial law and seizing voting machines.
The Associated Press declared Biden president-elect.
Several lawmakers attended a meeting in the White House counsel's office where attorneys for the president advised them that a plan to put up an alternate slate of electors was not legal. According to testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former special assistant in the Trump White House, GOP Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Louie Gohmert of Texas did the same.
The allies of Trump moved forward despite the warning from the counsel's office. The fake electors gathered at the seat of state government to cast their votes, as well as the Democratic electors who were chosen in seven states.
They submitted false Electoral College certificates in order to proclaim Trump the true winner of the presidential election.
Congress ignored the certificates from the alternate electors.
The majority of the lawmakers denied their involvement.
In a hearing in April, she testified that she did not recall conversations she had with the White House or the texts she sent to him.
Gohmert told the AP that he doesn't recall being involved and that he isn't sure if he could help the committee. Hice said it was normal for members of the president's party to be going in and out of the White House to speak about a number of topics. Hice is running for the position of secretary of state in Georgia.
The Arizona congressman didn't deny his public efforts to challenge the election results, but he denied recent reports about his involvement.
The congressman from Arizona said in a statement that he was concerned about the 2020 election.
Requests for comment from the other lawmakers were not returned.
Less than a week after the White House meeting, another plan emerged. In a meeting with House Freedom Caucus members and Trump White House officials, the discussion turned to the decisive action they believed that Pence could take on January 6.
Hice, Gosar, Gaetz, Jordan, Gohmert, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Mo Brooks of Alabama, and Greene were in attendance.
The committee asked Hutchinson, who was a frequent presence in the meetings that took place in December 2020 and January 2021, what the conversation was like.
They felt that he had the authority to send votes back to the States or the electors back to the states, if my wording isn't correct.
When asked if any of the Republican lawmakers disagreed with the idea that the vice president had authority, Hutchinson said there was no objection from them.
In another meeting, Giuliani, Powell, Ellis, and Jordan were joined by other people, including a Republican who had just been elected to the House from Colorado.
The communication between the White House and the Legislature was constant. The day after Christmas, more than two months after the election was called for Biden, a text message was sent by the man.
The text said 11 days to 1/6 and 25 days to inauguration. Clark was introduced to Trump by Perry.
Clark clashed with Justice Department superiors over his plan to send a letter to Georgia and other battleground states questioning the election results and urging their state legislatures to investigate. It all culminated in a dramatic White House meeting at which Trump considered elevating Clark to attorney general, only to back down after top Justice Department officials made clear they would resign.
Pressure from lawmakers and the White House on the Justice Department is one of several areas of inquiry in the Jan. 6 investigation. There are more revelations to come, according to Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democratic member of the panel from Maryland.
As the mob smashed our windows, bloodied our police and invaded the Capitol, Trump and his associates plotted to destroy Biden's majority in the electoral college and overthrow our constitutional order.
When the results of the panel's investigation come out, Raskin predicted that America would see how the coup and insurrection unfolded.
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