Two days after the US election, Trump Jr. Said he would guarantee his father’s victory

Two days after the 2020 US presidential election, while votes were still being tallied, Donald Trump’s eldest son sent a message to then White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows saying that “we have operational control” to ensure his father wins a second term, with Republican majorities in the U.S. Senate and legislatures in key states, CNN.

In the text, which was not previously released, Donald Trump Jr. exposes ideas for keeping his father in power by subverting the Electoral College process, according to the message reviewed by CNN. The text is among the records obtained by the US House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, invasion of the Capitol.

“It’s very simple,” wrote Trump Jr. to Meadows on Nov 5, 2020: “We have multiple paths, we control them all.”

In a statement to CNN, Trump Jr.’s attorney Alan S. Futerfas said: “Following the election, Don received numerous messages from supporters and others. Given the date, this message likely originated from someone else and was forwarded.”

Immediately prior to his message to Meadows outlining various avenues to challenge the election, Trump Jr messaged the then White House Chief of Staff saying: “This is what we need to do, please read and take it to everyone who needs to see, because I’m not sure we’re doing it.”

The November 5 message outlines a strategy almost identical to the one that the former president’s allies tried to carry out in the following months. Trump Jr. makes specific reference to filing lawsuits and defending recounts to prevent certain undecided states from certifying their results, as well as having a handful of Republican state houses come up with lists of false “Trump voters.”

If all else fails, according to Trump Jr.’s text, GOP lawmakers in Congress could simply vote to reinstate Trump as president on Jan.

“We have operational control and full leverage,” the message reads. “The second term must start now.”

Trump Jr.’s text it is revealing on several levels. It shows how those closest to the former president were already exchanging ideas on how to overturn the election months before the January 6 insurrection – and even before all the votes were counted. It would be another two days before the major media outlets declared Joe Biden the winner on November 7th.

The text also adds to a growing body of evidence of how Trump’s inner circle was actively engaged in discussing how to challenge the election results.

On March 28, California federal judge David Carter said Trump, along with conservative attorney John Eastman, launched an “unprecedented” campaign to overturn a democratic election, calling it “a coup seeking a legal theory.

George Terwilliger, attorney for Meadows, declined to comment on this story. A spokesperson for the House select committee declined to comment.

planned strategy

In the weeks following the 2020 election, Trump and his allies ended up filing more than 60 unsuccessful lawsuits in key states, failing to convince the courts that their claims about a stolen election were justified or they would have uncovered any evidence of fraud. widespread election.

They also called for multiple recounts based on the same baseless allegations of voter fraud. Several states carried out recounts in the months following the election, although none of them revealed any fraud substantial enough to alter the outcome of the vote in any state.

While Trump Jr. was publicly promoting various electoral fraud conspiracy theories and casting doubt on the results in states such as Pennsylvania and Georgia, messages from him to Meadows reveal that there were other ideas being discussed privately.

Trump Jr. provided for a strategy to replace authentic voters with fake Republican voters in some states. That plan was eventually orchestrated and executed by the former president’s allies and overseen by his then-lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

In messages to Meadows, Trump Jr. identifies two important dates in December that serve as deadlines for states to certify their election results and compel Congress to accept them. Although the dates are largely ceremonial, the son of the former Republican president seems to point to them as potential weaknesses to be exploited when casting doubt on the legitimacy of the election results.

Looking for Trump voters

The November 5 message from Trump Jr. for Meadows came as suspicions of unfaithful voters were beginning to publicly infiltrate conservative social media. Trump Jr. sent the text to Meadows at 12:51 pm, just minutes after conservative radio host Mark Levin published a similar idea and suggested that state legislatures have the final say on voters.

If secretaries of state were unable to certify the results, Trump Jr. argues in his text to Meadows that they should use their advantage by having Republican-controlled state assemblies “intervene” and present separate lists of “Trump voters,” he writes.

“Republicans control Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, etc., we have Trump voters,” adds Trump Jr..

Trump Jr.’s text, however, refers to an untested legal theory that state houses are the ultimate authority in elections and can intervene to present a different list of voters than the one chosen, when in reality this is a ceremonial process and the result is essentially a foregone conclusion.

The Justice Department and the House committee are investigating the fake voters plot in the context of what unfolded on January 6 and Trump’s broader effort to overturn the election.

The strategy launched by Trump Jr. is similar to what was described by former Texas Governor and Trump Energy Secretary Rick Perry, who sent a message to Meadows on Nov. to Trump.

A spokesperson for Perry told CNN that the former Secretary of Energy denies being the author of the text. However, several people who know Rick Perry have previously confirmed to the CNN that the phone number the committee linked to this text message is Perry’s number.

“We control them all”

Trump Jr. also sends a message to Meadows saying that Congress could intervene on January 6 and overturn the will of voters if, for some reason, they were unable to secure enough electoral votes to skew the result in Trump’s favor using the state-based strategy.

That option, according to Trump Jr.’s text, involves a scenario where neither Biden nor Trump have enough electoral votes to be declared winners, leading the House of Representatives to vote by state party delegation, with each state receiving one vote.

“Republicans control 28 states, Democrats 22 states,” writes Trump Jr.. “Once again Trump wins.”

“Either we have a vote from the states we control and win or it is decided by Congress on January 6, 2021,” he sent in a message to Meadows.

In a series of memos in early January, conservative attorney John Eastman proposed a variation on this idea.

Eastman’s memo set out a six-step plan for Vice President Mike Pence to overturn Trump’s election, which included scrapping the results in seven states because they allegedly had repeat voters. In fact, no state came up with an alternative list of voters – there were only Trump allies claiming without any authority to be voters.

Eastman, who has been subpoenaed by the House committee and is struggling to keep some of his records secret from investigators, was accused by Carter of likely being involved in a criminal conspiracy with Trump to overturn the election.

“The Doctor. Eastman has an impeccable record as a lawyer and respectfully disagrees with the judge’s findings,” his attorney Charles Burnham said in response to the judge’s ruling.

Trump Jr. pressures Meadows to fire Wray from the FBI

Trump Jr. ends his November 5 messages by calling for a series of moves to solidify his father’s control over the government, placing loyalists in key positions, and initiating investigations into the Biden family.

“Fire Wray; fire Fauci,” he writes, referring to FBI Director Christopher Wray and White House Covid-19 adviser Anthony Fauci. Trump Jr. then proposes making former acting director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell acting head of the FBI and having then-Attorney General Bill Barr “as special attorney to investigate the Biden crime family.”

As Trump refused to budge in the days and weeks after the 2020 election, rumors arose that he was still considering firing Wray, along with several other senior officials with whom he had become frustrated.

Trump and his allies harshly criticized Wray for failing to present information that they claimed was harmful to the president’s political enemies, including Biden. THE CNN previously reported that Trump’s prospect of firing Wray had loomed over the FBI for weeks, dating back to before Election Day.

While Wray remains in his post and Barr resigned in mid-December 2020 without naming a special prosecutor to investigate the Bidens, Trump Jr. underscores how fragile the situation was at the Justice Department shortly after the election.

The same goes for Trump Jr.’s recommendation. that Meadows replaces Wray with Grenell, someone who not only lacks the usual qualifications to lead the FBI, but also has a proven track record of carrying out the former president’s orders.

After serving a controversial three-month stint as Trump’s interim intelligence chief, Grenell began campaigning in late 2020 to help advance Trump’s baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud and support his legal challenges in one key state: Nevada.

On Nov. 5, Biden had a slight lead over Trump in Nevada, but looked set to win the state’s six electoral votes. On the same day, campaign officials from Grenell and Trump announced that they were filing further action to “stop the counting of illegal votes,” but did not provide evidence to support the allegations of rampant fraud.