..two GOP lawmakers offered advice to Trump’s team on challenging elec

Source: The Hill | April 15, 2022 | Rebecca Beitsch

New emails show two GOP lawmakers offered advice to Trump’s team on challenging election

Newly revealed text messages from two Republicans who voted to certify President Biden’s election victory on Jan. 6 show they privately offered advice to Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows in navigating a challenge to the 2020 election.

Texts from Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) obtained by CNN show the two men sought to aid Meadows, weighing in on how former President Trump should proceed, including in his legal strategy.

The texts show in the early days following the election, both men lended their support to Trump.

Lee texted Meadows on Nov. 7 to offer his “unequivocal support for you to exhaust every legal and constitutional remedy at your disposal to restore Americans faith in our elections.”

“This fight is about the fundamental fairness and integrity of our election system. The nation is depending upon your continued resolve. Stay strong and keep fighting Mr. President,” he added later.

That same day Roy also sent messages to Meadows.

“We need ammo. We need fraud examples. We need it this weekend,” he said.

On Jan. 6 both men voted to certify the election results hours after violent rioters pushed their way into the Capitol.

Roy said his vote “may well sign my political death warrant” but added  “the president should never have spun up certain Americans to believe something that simply cannot be.”

Lee offered a similar refrain on the Senate floor: ​​“Our job is a very simple one,” he said. “Our job is to convene to open the ballots and to count them. That’s it.”

But both men also waded into Trump’s legal battles.

Lee lobbied on behalf of Trump lawyer Sydney Powell, sending a text to Meadows also on Nov. 7 in an effort to get her into the Oval Office.

“Sydney Powell is saying that she needs to get in to see the president, but she’s being kept away from him,” Lee wrote, sending along her email and phone number. 

“Apparently she has a strategy to keep things alive and put several states back in play. Can you help get her in?”

Roy also weighed in that day on the approach Trump should take.

“We must urge the President to tone down the rhetoric, and approach the legal challenge firmly, intelligently and effectively without resorting to throwing wild desperate haymakers or whipping his base into a conspiracy frenzy,” he said.

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