Driving the Day:
NEW: "Republican members of Congress were heavily involved in calls and meetings with former President Donald Trump and his top aides as they devised a strategy to overturn the election in December 2020…" https://t.co/06U7YjIvxR
— Defend Democracy Project (@DemocracyNowUS) April 25, 2022
Must Read Stories
New Evidence Shows The Depth Of The Conspiracy To Overturn The Election
- Politico: GOP Lawmakers Were Deeply Involved In Trump Plans To Overturn Election, New Evidence Suggests: Republican members of Congress were heavily involved in calls and meetings with former President Donald Trump and his top aides as they devised a strategy to overturn the election in December 2020, according to new evidence filed in federal court late Friday. Deposition excerpts filed by the Jan 6. select committee — part of an effort to force former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to appear for an interview — suggest that some of Trump’s top allies in Congress were frequently present in meetings where a handful of strategies to prevent then-President-elect Joe Biden from taking office were discussed, including efforts to replace the leadership of the Justice Department with figures who would sow doubts about the legitimacy of the election. Lawmakers who attended meetings, in person or by phone, included Reps. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and numerous members of the House Freedom Caucus, according to Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to Meadows who provided key testimony about the conversations and meetings Meadows had in December 2020.
- NBC: Jan. 6 Revelations Will ‘blow The Roof Off The House,’ Rep. Jamie Raskin Says: Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., suggested that the House Jan. 6 committee’s upcoming hearings will be dramatic and include explosive revelations that the panel has been piecing together behind the scenes for months. “The hearings will tell a story that will really blow the roof off the House,” Raskin said Thursday at an event hosted by Georgetown University’s Center on Faith and Justice in Washington. […] Raskin said the committee will present “evidence” that proves there was coordination among then-President Donald Trump and his inner circle and his supporters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The plan was to use then-Vice President Mike Pence to try to get President Joe Biden’s electoral vote tally below the 270 majority needed for victory, Raskin said, which under the 12th Amendment would shift the contest to a vote in the House. If that occurred, he said, Republicans would have the majority to seize the presidency because the votes would be cast by the state delegations, and the GOP controls more state delegations than the Democrats do.
- New York Times: Meadows Was Warned Jan. 6 Could Turn Violent, House Panel Says: Mark Meadows, the final chief of staff for President Donald J. Trump, was told that plans to try to overturn the 2020 election using so-called alternate electors were not “legally sound” and that the events of Jan. 6 could turn violent, but he pushed forward with a rally anyway, the House committee investigating the Capitol attack alleged in a Friday night court filing. In the 248-page filing, lawyers for the committee highlighted the testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson, a White House aide in Mr. Meadows’s office, who revealed new details about the events that led to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Congress by a pro-Trump mob.
Kevin McCarthy’s Lie Is Putting Republican Hypocrisy And Fealty To Trump’s Conspiracies On Full Display
- New York Times: McCarthy’s Lie Puts G.O.P. Hypocrisy on Trump on Display: Representative Kevin McCarthy’s denial of disparaging comments he made about President Donald J. Trump after the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, exposed a widely known but seldom seen phenomenon in Washington: the hypocrisy of Republicans who have privately scorned Mr. Trump while publicly defending him. Mr. McCarthy, the California Republican who is campaigning to be speaker of the House if his party wins the majority in November, had dismissed as “totally false and wrong” a report that he had told fellow G.O.P. leaders he would urge Mr. Trump to resign from office after the riot. But an audio recording of the conversation revealed Mr. McCarthy’s denial to be a lie.
- Washington Post (Analysis): Kevin McCarthy And The Intoxication Of Power: Power is intoxicating, its pursuit revealing of character but sometimes debilitating; House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is Exhibit A. In his ceaseless drive to become the next speaker of the House, he has demonstrated weakness, hypocrisy and a willingness to lie to save his skin. […] McCarthy’s decision to run to Trump in a moment of crisis fit a pattern he has followed since violent pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol to disrupt and delay the ratification of Joe Biden’s 2020 victory. After offering critical remarks about Trump on the House floor in the days after the Capitol attack, McCarthy lost his nerve. He made a pilgrimage to meet with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, the supplicant asking the monarch for forgiveness. They were photographed together, the public record of the visit Trump’s apparent punishment for the earlier criticism. McCarthy has since been craven in bowing to Trump’s wishes, fearing that crossing the former president could compromise both his party’s hopes of capturing the majority in November’s midterm elections and his own desire to lead a Republican-controlled House next year as speaker. He also has been weak in the face of calls to discipline the most extreme members of the House GOP conference — those who have been the most loyal to Trump and his conspiracy theories, including the false claim that he won the 2020 election.
In The States
Michigan Republicans Endorse Trump-Backed Election Conspiracy Theorists For Secretary Of State And Attorney General
- Buzzfeed: Republicans Have Picked An Election Denier To Run Michigan’s Elections: Michigan Republicans endorsed Kristina Karamo, a first-time candidate who has spread lies about the 2020 election, to run all of the state’s elections as the party’s candidate for secretary of state. Karamo is one of at least 17 election deniers running this year to take over elections in 14 states, three of whom have the explicit backing of former president Donald Trump. Trump endorsed Karamo in September and featured her at a rally in Michigan earlier this month. She is the first to win her party’s endorsement for the job, but several others could clear that hurdle as primary election season gets underway.
- MLive: Matt Deperno – Trump’s Pick – Wins Republican Endorsement For Michigan Attorney General: Matt DePerno has earned the endorsement of the Michigan Republican Party to take on incumbent Democrat Dana Nessel in November. DePerno beat Tom Leonard in the second round of voting with 54% of the vote. Candidate Ryan Berman was eliminated in the first round. President Donald Trump endorsed DePerno, going as far as hosting a rally for him in Michigan earlier this spring. “He is really tough. And that’s just what you need,” Trump said. “He is a killer. We need a killer. And he’s a killer in honesty. He’s an honest, hard-working guy who is feared up here.”
David Perdue’s Lies About The 2020 Election Dominate Georgia Gubernatorial Debate
- CNN: Kemp And Perdue Clash Over 2020 Election Results At Georgia GOP Governor’s Debate: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and former Sen. David Perdue clashed over the results of the 2020 election during the state’s GOP governor’s debate Sunday night, blaming each other for Democratic gains in the last election cycle. It marked the first primary debate between Perdue, whose most prominent supporter is former President Donald Trump, and Kemp, who the former President says betrayed him for refusing to help him overturn his defeat in 2020 and whom he has set out to dethrone. While there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in any state during the 2020 election, Perdue returned to the subject — a central theme of his campaign — several times throughout the hourlong debate and argued that Kemp did not do enough to challenge the state’s election results.
Headlines
The Ongoing Plot To Undermine Elections
Associated Press: In election misinformation fight, ’2020 changed everything’
Reuters: Local election chief threatened by Republican leader seeking illegal access to voting equipment
The January 6 Conspiracy
New York Times: A Crusade to Challenge the 2020 Election, Blessed by Church Leaders
Washington Post: Greene says she can’t remember if she urged Trump to impose martial law
Trump Investigations
USA Today: Trump investigations set to accelerate in coming weeks: Where the inquiries stand
