Unseen texts include messages from the Trump family – daughter Ivanka Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner and son Donald Trump Jr. – as well as from the White House and campaign officials, cabinet members, Republican leaders, January 6 rally organizers, Rudy Giuliani, My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, Sean Hannity and other Fox presenters. He also exchanged text messages with more than 40 current and former Republican members of Congress, including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Jim Jim of Ohio, Mo Brooks of Alabama and Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia.
The texts include everything from plans to fight the election results to surprise and unexpected reactions on January 6 from some of Trump’s most loyal allies. At 2:28 p.m., Green, the conservative brand that helped plan Congress’ objections that day, sent Meadows an urgent request for help as the violence unfolded in the Capitol.
“Mark, I’ve just been told there’s an active shooter on the first floor of the Capitol. Please tell the president to calm people down. That’s not the way to solve anything, “Green wrote. Meadows doesn’t seem to be responding.
More messages arrived.
“Mark: he has to stop this now. Is there anything I can do to help? ”Mick Mulvani, the former White House chief of staff, texted Meadows.
“It’s really bad up here on the hill. They broke the Capitol,” wrote Georgia Republican Barry Laudermilk.
“The president must stop this as soon as possible,” wrote Republican William Timmons of South Carolina.
“POTUS is committed,” Meadows said in response to Loudermilk. “We’re doing it,” he wrote to Timmons.
“Thanks. That doesn’t help our cause, “Loudermilk said.
Shortly afterwards, Donald Trump Jr. weighed: “This one (sic) is the one you go to on mattresses. They’ll try to fuck all his legacy on it if it gets worse.”
“TELL THEM TO GO HOME !!!” sent a message to Trump’s first chief of staff, Rhine Pribus.
Heated rhetoric and conspiracy theories
CNN’s text messages begin on election day, November 3, 2020. Even before the election was called, Meadows was inundated with conspiracy theories about election fraud, strategies to challenge the results, and pleas for Trump to continue fighting. The reports – from GOP activists, donors, Republicans, members of Congress and state party officials – appear to act as an echo camera, confirming Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen. For months before election day, Trump argued that the only way he could lose was if the election was rigged. Earlier, text reports revealed that former Trump administration energy minister Rick Perry and Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., sent an SMS to Meadows on Nov. 4 and 5 with ideas to cancel the election.
On November 7, hours before the election was called, Perry sent a message to Meadows again: “We have a data-based program that can clearly show where the fraud took place. That’s the silver bullet. “
While Perry had previously denied CNN reporting his text messages to Meadows, CNN confirmed that it was his cell phone and he signed the text, “Rick Perry,” including his number.
However, other texts include hints of doubt expressed by members of Trump’s team and even Meadows himself about the veracity of conspiracy theories spread by Trump’s Kraken team, outside lawyers working for Trump, including Giuliani and Sidney Powell. Some key allies in Congress who worked with Trump’s campaign initially to undo the election, such as Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Representative Chip Roy of Texas, eventually failed to approach the approach of certification in Congress on Jan. 6. CNN reported earlier. The texts also show how Trump’s allies quickly denied responsibility for the January 6 attack. Shortly after the Trump-backed rebels violated the Capitol, one of his top aides began working on a counter-story.
At 3:45 p.m., Trump’s campaign spokesman Jason Miller suggested that Meadows and Trump aide Dan Scavino Trump tweet: “Call me crazy, but ideas for two POTUS tweets: 1) Bad apples, probably ANTIFA or other crazy leftists, penetrated today’s peaceful protest against the fraudulent vote count. Violence is never acceptable! MAGA supporters embrace our police and the rule of law and must leave the Capitol now! 2) The fake news media, which encouraged violent and radical riots this summer, are now trying to accuse peaceful and innocent MAGA supporters of violence. This is not us! Our people must go home and let the criminals bear the consequences! “
Trump’s allies in Congress seem to have understood the message. At 3:52 p.m., Green told Meadows, “Note that we don’t think these attackers are our people. We think they are Antifa. Dressed as Trump supporters.
Five minutes later, Republican Louis Homert, a Republican from Texas, told Meadows: “The cap police told me last night that they were warned that there would be a lot of antifa today wearing Trump’s red shirts and hats and they would probably be violent. ”
In the 16 months since Jan. 6, hundreds of allegations have shown that almost everyone who violated the Capitol was in fact a supporter of Trump.
While Green was alarmed on Jan. 6, she apologized the next day that efforts to block Biden’s certification had failed.
“Yesterday was a terrible day. We tried our best in our objection to the 6 states. I’m sorry nothing worked. I don’t think President Trump caused the attack on the Capitol. It’s not his fault,” she wrote. on the morning of January 7th. “Absolutely no excuse, and I totally condemn it all, but after year-round closures and stolen elections, people say they have no choice.”
Meadows replied, “Thank you, Marjorie.”
Green is currently facing a court challenge to disqualify her from running for Congress for her alleged role on January 6. In a testimony in court on Friday, the Georgian Republican repeatedly denied or said she did not remember what she said about the events of January 6. Meadows’ text diaries offer a new perspective on what she told the White House chief of staff in real time.
On December 31, Green turned to Meadows for advice on how to prepare for objections to the January 6 election certification.
“Good morning, Mark, I’m here in the District of Columbia. We have to get organized for the 6th, “Green wrote. “I would like to meet Rudy Giuliani again. We couldn’t talk to him for long. Also anyone who can help. We attract many members. And we need to set out the best case for each country. “
Meadows doesn’t seem to react.
Until Jan. 17, Green offered ways to keep Trump in office, telling Meadows that there were several Republicans in Congress who still wanted the then president to declare martial law, which had been raised in a heated Oval Office meeting a month earlier.
Green sent a message: “In our personal chat with members only, a few say that the only way to save our republic is for Trump to call for a Marshall Act (sic). I don’t know about these things. I just wanted you to tell him. They stole this election. We all know. Then they will destroy our country. Please tell him to declassify as much as possible so we can follow Biden and everyone else! “
Again, Meadows doesn’t seem to be responding.
What Meadows turned over
Meadows provided a cache of 2,319 messages to the commission on January 6, 2021. But soon after, he stopped cooperating and refused to appear for disclosure. In the end, the House voted to hold the former White House chief of staff in disrespect to Congress. The Ministry of Justice has not yet announced whether it will file charges against Meadows. Meadows filed a lawsuit against the House committee in an attempt to block congressional subpoenas. And in a late-night trial in court on Friday, the commission responded with new details revealing that Meadows had been warned in advance that Jan. 6 could turn into violence, according to Cassidy Hutchison, one of Meadows’ former White House associates. .
The committee also released text messages that Meadows exchanged with Republican members of Congress, including texts with Republican Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania on a scheme to replace Justice Department leaders who opposed Trump’s allegations of electoral fraud.
In late December, Perry contacted Meadows, linking him to then-Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, who insisted on baseless allegations of voter fraud in the Justice Department. Trump was considering firing the attorney general and appointing Clark instead. Clark referred to his Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination more than 100 times when he addressed the committee on January 6 in February.
On December 26, Perry sent a message to Meadows: “Mark, I’m just registering while the time keeps counting down. 11 days to 1/6 and 25 days to take office. We have to go!”
“Mark, you need to call Jeff,” he continued. “I just talked to him and he explained to me why the deputy chief would not work specifically with the FBI. They will see it as (sic) as they do not have the power to impose what needs to be done. “
“I see,” Meadows replied. “I think I understand. Let me work as a deputy. “
On December 28, Perry reached out again, “Did you call Jeff Clark?” Meadows didn’t seem to respond.
Meadows has seized more than 1,000 communications from the Privileges Claims Committee, according to a court case Friday. In his case, Meadows’ lawyer argued that the former White House chief of staff “was placed in a precarious position to choose between conflicting claims to privileges.”
Hannity to Meadows: “Yes, sir”
In addition to texts published by the committee, CNN and other news organizations have previously published selections of text messages received from Meadows by Lee, Roy, Trump Jr., Perry and the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Ginny Thomas.
The diaries received from CNN include numerous messages from official White House cell phone numbers. Some have been identified by CNN, others are unknown.
There are also many group texts with the text of Trump …
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