Newly released text messages from Donald Trump’s former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows underscore how far Republicans went in their efforts to overturn the 2020 election and undermine our democracy. Together with right-wing extremists in Congress, Republicans at the highest levels of the White House spread Donald Trump’s Big Lie, schemed to overturn the election, and ultimately helped incite the January 6 attack on the Capitol. 

New York Times: Meadows and the Band of Loyalists: How They Fought to Keep Trump in Power

“The lawmakers — all of them members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus — worked closely with the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, whose central role in Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn a democratic election is coming into focus as the congressional investigation into Jan. 6 gains traction.”

“The men were not alone in their efforts — most Republican lawmakers fell in line behind Mr. Trump’s false claims of fraud, at least rhetorically — but this circle moved well beyond words and into action. They bombarded the Justice Department with dubious claims of voting irregularities. They pressured members of state legislatures to conduct audits that would cast doubt on the election results. They plotted to disrupt the certification on Jan. 6 of Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory.”

Washington Post: Role as Trump’s gatekeeper puts Meadows in legal jeopardy — and at odds with Trump

“The panel’s months-long investigation has revealed the myriad ways in which Meadows is inextricably bound to the Jan. 6 attack, serving less as chief of staff than chief enabler to a president who was desperate to hold onto power.”

“Though the traditional function of a White House chief of staff is as a gatekeeper, Meadows instead threw the gates to the Oval Office wide open — acting as a facilitator to conspiracy theorists and often declining to tamp down Trump’s obsession with false election claims.”

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