Meadows and the band of loyalists: how they fought to keep Trump in power

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WASHINGTON – Two days after Christmas last year, Richard P. Donoghue, a top Justice Department official in the waning days of the Trump administration, saw an unknown number pop up on his phone.

Donoghue spent weeks sending calls, emails and personal requests from President Donald Trump and his allies, all of whom asked the Justice Department to declare, erroneously, that the election was corrupt. The lame-duck president has surrounded himself with a crew of unscrupulous lawyers, conspiracy theorists, even the chief executive of MyPillow-and they are terrorizing his election lies.

Trump provided Donoghue’s cellphone number so people could pass on rumors of election fraud. Who is calling him now?

It became a member of Congress: Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., Who began pressing the president’s case. Perry said he has compiled a dossier of voter fraud allegations that the department needs to review. Jeffrey Clark, a Justice Department attorney who found favor with Trump, could “do something” about the president’s claims, Perry said, even if others in the department didn’t.

The message was delivered by an anonymous lawmaker who was making Trump’s bidding. Justice Department officials view this as an outrageous political pressure from a White House consumed by conspiracy theories.

It’s also an example of how half a dozen right-wing members of Congress became key soldiers in Trump’s effort to overthrow the election, according to dozens of interviews and analysis of hundreds of pages of congressional testimony about the attack on the Capitol. on January 6.

Lawmakers – all of whom are members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus – have worked closely with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, whose central role in Trump’s efforts to overthrow a democratic election goes into focus as the congressional inquiry on Jan. 6 is gaining traction.

Rep. Was there. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the rugged former wrestler who cemented his national profile by defending Trump on cable television; Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, whose political ascent earned him a $ 10 million sweepstakes win; and Rep. Paul Gosar, an Arizona dentist who trafficked conspiracy theories and spoke at a white nationalist rally.

They were accompanied by Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas, known for earnest speeches given in a vacant House room and unsuccessfully indicted Vice President Mike Pence for his refusal to interfere with election certification; and Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama, a lawyer who rode the Tea Party wave in Congress and was later indicted by a Democratic congressman for inciting unrest on Jan. 6.

Perry, a former Army helicopter pilot near Jordan and Meadows, acted as a de facto sergeant. He coordinated many of the efforts to keep Trump in office, including a plan to replace the acting attorney general with a more compliant official. General Perry is what his colleagues call him.

Meadows, a former congressman from North Carolina who co -founded the Freedom Caucus in 2015, knows the six lawmakers well. His role as Trump’s right -hand man helped to fully empower the group in the last, turbulent week of the president’s tenure.

Congressional Republicans have resisted the Jan. 6 committee’s investigation at every turn, but it’s increasingly clear that Trump relies on lawmakers to help his attempts to retain power. When Justice Department officials said they could find no evidence of widespread fraud, Trump did not care: “Just say the election was corrupt + leave it to me and the R. Congressmen the rest,” he said, according to Donoghue notes on the call.

November

In Nov. 9, two days after The Associated Press called the race for Biden, crisis meetings were being held at Trump’s campaign headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.

Perry and Jordan huddled with senior White House officials, including Meadows; Stephen Miller, a top Trump adviser; Bill Stepien, the campaign manager; and Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary.

According to two people familiar with the meetings, which have not been reported before, the group has settled on a strategy that will be a blueprint for Trump supporters in Congress: Hammer home the idea that the election was tainted, announce legal actions being taken by the campaign, and strengthen the case on allegations of fraud.

Gosar strongly accepted the fraud claims so his chief of staff, Tom Van Flein, rushed to an airplane hangar parking lot in Phoenix after a conspiracy theory began to spread that a suspicious jet carrying ballots from South Korea was about to land, perhaps in a bid. to steal the election from Trump, according to court documents filed by one of the participants. The claim became baseless.

December

On December 1, 2020, Attorney General William Barr told the public what he knew to be true: The Justice Department found no evidence of widespread election fraud. Biden is the legal winner.

The attorney general’s declaration seems to have inspired only six lawmakers. Gohmert suggested that the FBI in Washington could not be trusted to investigate election fraud. Biggs said Trump’s allies need “the imprimatur, actually the DOJ,” to win their lawsuits alleging fraud.

They turned their attention to Jan. 6, when Pence officially confirmed Biden’s victory. Jordan, asked if the president should consent, replied, “No.”

On Dec. 21, Trump met with members of the Freedom Caucus to discuss their plans. There’s Jordan, Gosar, Biggs, Brooks and Meadows.

“This sedition will be stopped,” Gosar wrote on Twitter.

January

In Jan. 6, Washington was shady and windy as thousands of people gathered at the Ellipse to hear Trump and his allies spread a lie that has been a rallying cry in the months since: that the election was stolen.

Brooks, wearing body armor, took to the stage in the morning, saying he was speaking at the White House command. The people began to multiply.

“Today is the day that American patriots start deleting names and kicking,” Brooks said. “Are you ready to do what it takes to fight for America?”

Trump approached the dice immediately afterwards. “We will never give up,” Trump said. “We will never allow it.”

Sounding their approval, many of the crowd began walking down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol, where the certification process was underway. Because of the speakers at the rally, people taunted the officers guarding the Capitol and pushed towards the stairs and entrance of the building, eventually breaking security all around after 1 p.m.

At this point, six lawmakers are inside the Capitol, ready to oppose certification. Gosar was speaking at 2:16 pm when security forces entered the room because there were rioters in the building.

As the melee broke out, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, shouted at his colleagues who were planning to challenge the election: “This is what you got, guys.”

When Jordan tried to help Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., Who moved to a safe place, she tapped its hand, she later told the story to her assistants.

“Stay away from me,” she told him. “You did it.”

A spokesman for Jordan disputed parts of the account, saying Cheney did not swear at the congressman or slap him.

The Next

Perry was recently elected head of the Freedom Caucus, elevating him to an influential leadership position as Republicans could regain control of the House in 2022. The stolen election claim is now a litmus test for the party, if where Trump and his allies are trying to oust them. who refuses to back it up.

All six lawmakers are poised to be major supporters if Trump retains his political power before the midterm and general elections. Brooks is running for the Senate in Alabama, and Gohmert is running for Texas attorney general. Some, like Jordan, are in line to become committee chairmen if Republicans withdraw the House.

In many ways, they tried to rewrite history. Some of the men argued that the attack on January 6 was similar to a tourist visit to the Capitol. Gosar described the attackers as “peaceful patriots across the country.” A Pew research poll found that nearly two-thirds of Republicans said their party should not accept elected officials who criticize Trump.

However, the House select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol appears to be evaporating, voting this week to recommend that Meadows be charged with criminal contempt by Congress.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. and the chairman of the committee, the panel said the facts will be followed wherever they lead, including members of Congress.

“Nobody,” he said, “is unlimited.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Copyright: © 2021 The New York Times Company

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