Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) were enthusiastic devotees to then-President Donald Trump’s election steal attempt — until they slowly realized the whole thing was a giant bust, according to their texts with then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, obtained by CNN.
The reported texts, which have also been obtained by the House Jan. 6 Committee, revealed that Lee had assured Meadows on Nov. 7, 2020 that MAGAland had the senator’s “unequivocal support for you to exhaust every legal and constitutional remedy at your disposal to restore Americans faith in our elections.”
On the same day, Roy told Meadows, “We need ammo. We need fraud examples. We need it this weekend.”
The reported texts also showed Lee endorsing pro-Trump lawyer and conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell as a qualified fighter for Trump’s election steal efforts, and urged Meadows on Nov. 7 to allow her to speak to Trump.
The Utah senator praised Powell as a “straight shooter” in another text to Meadows on Nov. 9.
Cut to 10 days later, when Powell and the rest of the motley crew of pro-Trump lawyers held a disastrous press conference in which she claimed that the election had been stolen from Trump via “communist money” and rigged voting machines from Venezuela, with ties to the Clinton Foundation and George Soros.
Apparently realizing that Powell spouting unhinged conspiracy theories while then-Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani slowly melted next to her was something of a bad look for the cause, Lee reportedly texted Meadows after the press conference saying he was “worried” about Trump potentially getting sued for defamation.
“Unless Powell can back up everything she said, which I kind of doubt she can,” the Utah senator wrote, to which Meadows reportedly replied, “I agree. Very concerned.”
Roy also sounded the alarm to Meadows after the presser, warning him that, “we need substance or people are going to break.”
Then Lee and Roy both began boosting conservative legal scholar John Eastman, who would go on to draft the infamous plot for Mike Pence to steal the election for Trump in late November, according to CNN.
By the end of December, Roy was suggesting to Meadows that it was time for Trump and co. to throw in the towel.
“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,” the Texas lawmaker wrote on Dec. 31.
The next day, Roy texted, “We’re driving a stake in the heart of the federal republic.”
On Jan. 3, Lee warned Meadows that Trump’s fake elector scheme would “end badly” for the then-president “unless we have the Constitution on our side.”
“And unless these states submit new slates of Trump electors pursuant to state law, we do not,” the GOP senator continued.
Lee and Roy ultimately voted to certify the 2020 election results on Jan. 6 after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building as the president did nothing to discourage the violence.
“This is a sh*tshow,” Roy texted Meadows after the vote. “Fix this now.”
