Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, had a starring role in Fox News’ attempt to deflect attention away from Thursday night’s televised hearing on the Jan. 6 insurrection. Lee used his time with Sean Hannity to launch a dangerous attack on committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD ). His attack was particularly interesting considering Lee also had a key role in trying to cook up a “constitutional” basis for a Trump coup, a project Lee said he was spending “14 hours a day” on in the weeks following the 2020 election of President Joe Biden.
Lee went so far Thursday night as suggesting that Raskin is ultimately responsible for someone showing up in Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s neighborhood, threatening to assassinate him. No, seriously. Raskin has reportedly advocated for an end to the electoral college, for the completely modern and logical idea that presidents be elected by popular vote. “[Raskin] wants to eliminate the Electoral College, which is about as fundamental to our system of government as it comes,” Lee told Hannity. “All these efforts to denigrate the Constitution and our system, you can draw a consistent thread between the statements of Jamie Raskin, the efforts to protest outside Supreme Court justices' homes, efforts to assassinate Supreme Court justices,” and more, he said.
“It’s counter to everything we believe in about constitutional government.” Oh, really, Sen. Coup Conspirator Lee? Let us review some recent history to determine just how sacred the electoral college process is to Lee.
RELATED STORY: Jan. 6 probe lays out evidence of Trump's attempted coup, gears up for more hearings
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Beginning on Nov. 7, the day after Joe Biden’s victory was declared, Lee was texting Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, to urge Trump to “exhaust every legal and constitutional remedy” in challenging the results. In multiple texts that day, he volunteered his “unequivocal support for you to exhaust every legal and constitutional remedy at your disposal to restore Americans' faith in our elections.” He also pushed attorney Sydney Powell. “Sydney Powell is saying that she needs to get in to see the president, but she’s being kept away from him,” Lee texted. “Apparently she has a strategy to keep things alive and put several states back in play. Can you help get her in?”
Then came the “alternate electors” idea. On Nov. 23, Lee texted Meadows “John Eastman has some really interesting research on this,” then on December 8 followed up with “If a very small handful of states were to have their legislatures appoint alternative slates of delegates, there could be a path.” Note that at this point, the majority of states had certified their elections and Trump’s loss, and Trump had racked up an uninterrupted string of losses in the courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.
Just to reiterate: at this late date in the process, Lee—who supposedly holds the electoral college process completely sacred—is arguing that some states could subvert that process and send a fraudulent slate of electors. And well beyond December 8. On Jan. 4, 2021, Lee texted Meadows, hurt that Trump lashed out at him for not being sufficiently committed to overthrowing the election. “I’ve been spending 14 hours a day for the last week trying to unravel this for him,” Lee complained. “I’ve been calling state legislators for hours today, and am going to spend hours doing the same tomorrow.”
“We need something from state legislatures to make this legitimate and to have any hope of winning. Even if they can’t convene, it might be enough if a majority of them are willing to sign a statement indicating how they would vote.” [emphasis added]
Less than 40 hours before the insurrection, Lee was pushing an effort he knew was not legitimate to subvert the electoral process—to have a coup.
Two days before the insurrection, Lee said he was trying to get state legislators on board with the alternate electors scheme. Not that he would admit to that to authors Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. In their recent book about the events leading up to Jan. 6, Woodward and Costa quote Lee as saying that the first he’d ever heard about an “alternate electors” plot was on Jan. 2, and that “he was shocked.”
Now he’s not just helping Fox News lie and try to cover up what happened on Jan. 6, he’s insinuating that a member of Congress isn’t just undermining the constitution, but purposefully endangering Supreme Court justices.
We talk to gun control advocate and executive director of Guns Down America, Igor Volsky on Daily Kos' The Brief podcast
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