GOP Congressman Wanted Trump to Invoke ‘Marshall Law’ to Stay in Office: Leaked Texts
Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was forced to hand over 2,319 text messages to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The trove of text messages were obtained by Talking Points Memo, which on Monday reported on the extent to which Meadows was communicating with members of Congress about overturning the 2020 election.
While CNN previously reported that Meadows was kept informed of efforts to seize voting machines and other schemes to overturn President Biden’s win by Trump allies in contested states, the TPM report identifies a startling message from Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) to Meadows, sent on Jan. 17, 2021, just three days before Joe Biden was scheduled to take office.
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In the text, Norman appears to propose that then-President Trump impose martial law — or, as Norman put it, “Marshall Law” — during his final hours of office to overturn the election in his favor.
“Mark, in seeing what’s happening so quickly, and reading about the Dominion law suits attempting to stop any meaningful investigation we are at a point of ? no return ? in saving our Republic !! Our LAST HOPE is invoking Marshall Law!! PLEASE URGE TO PRESIDENT TO DO SO!!” Norman wrote.
The series also shows that Meadows was at the center of hundreds of incoming discussions among 34 members of Congress about plans to help Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
Several members of Congress were also identified as leading players in the effort to undo Trump’s loss and messaged Meadows about plans to challenge the election results including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), and Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.).
Rep. Brooks texted Meadows on Dec. 21, 2020, referring to plans to hold a “White House meeting regarding formulation of our January 6 strategies.” Soon after, Meadows messaged Fox News personality Brian Kilmeade, confirming the meeting happened.
“The President and I met with about 15 members of Congress to discuss the evidence of voter fraud in various states as well as discuss the strategy for making the case to the American people,” Meadows wrote to Kilmeade later that day.
Among those members identified by the Jan. 6 committee as having participated in the meeting were Reps. Jordan, Brian Babin (R-Texas), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Andy Harris (R-Md.), Jody Hice (R-Ga.), Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and then-Rep.-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).
Prior to the midterms, Rep. Greene faced a legal challenge to disqualify her from running for Congress due to her alleged role on Jan 6.
“Good morning Mark, I’m here in DC. We have to get organized for the 6th,” Greene wrote to Meadows on Dec. 31, CNN reported. “I would like to meet with Rudy Giuliani again. We didn’t get to speak with him long. Also anyone who can help. We are getting a lot of members on board. And we need to lay out the best case for each state.”
By Jan. 17, Greene told Meadows that several Republicans in Congress wanted Trump to declare martial law. She, too, appeared to think giving power to the military was named after a person named Marshall. “In our private chat with only Members, several are saying the only way to save our Republic is for Trump to call for Marshall law,” Green wrote. “I don’t know on those things. I just wanted you to tell him. They stole this election. We all know. They will destroy our country next. Please tell him to declassify as much as possible so we can go after Biden and anyone else!”
More recently, Greene told the New York Post‘s Zach Williams that if she and Steve Bannon had organized the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, they would have executed a successful coup, and would have “been armed.”
As previously reported by Rolling Stone, organizers of the Jan. 6 riots in Washington, D.C., said they participated in “dozens” of planning meetings with White House staff and members of Trump’s team, including Meadows. “Meadows was 100 percent made aware of what was going on,” said an organizer. “He’s also like a regular figure in these really tiny groups of national organizers.”
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