Mike Lee says texts with Trump White House being twisted for 'political motive'
by Abigail Adcox, Breaking News Reporter
| April 21, 2022 09:28 AM
Sen. Mike Lee wants to set the record straight on text messages leaked between him and then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows about challenging the results of the 2020 election.
The Utah Republican argued the text messages, obtained by the Jan. 6 committee and leaked to the press last week, have been taken out of context for a "political motive."
"He knows that when I said things like ‘Tell me what we ought to be saying,’ what I was just trying to figure out was ‘What is your message?’ He knows me well enough to know that that doesn’t mean I will do your bidding, whatever it is,” Lee told Deseret News on Wednesday.
Lee characterized the messages with Meadows as a conversation one might have with a friend, saying that his objective was "to figure out what, if any role, Congress had."
Text exchanges between Lee to Meadows between November 2020 and January 2021 obtained by the Jan. 6 committee show that Lee initially encouraged former President Donald Trump to exhaust legal remedies to upend the election "while cooperating with the transition process." As legal avenues to overturn the election results dwindled, Lee began urging Trump to step back because "it could really hurt" his chances of a 2024 presidential bid.
The senator denied claims that he might have encouraged states to change their electoral votes.
more
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/mike-lee-says-texts-with-trump-white-house-being-twisted-for-political-motive
