The congressional committee has made more revelations that implicate more known figures in the efforts to overturn the 2020 elections. Text messages to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows from Donald Trump Jr. revealed Don Jr's ideas to keep his father in power and overturn the elections.
The House Committee obtained text messages from Trump Jr. to Meadows, revealing the former president's son's ideas to keep his father in power. CNN reported that Trump Jr. told Meadows that they have "operational control" to make sure the now-former president would have a second term in office, given the GOP majorities in the Senate and the legislatures of the swing states.
In the text message, according to the network, Trump Jr. outlined a plan to keep his father in power through the subversion of the Electoral College process. The congressional panel has previously revealed texts to Meadows from Ginni Thomas, the wife of sitting Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, as well as a Republican member of Congress.
"It's very simple. We have multiple paths. We control them all," said the text from Trump Jr. to Meadows. The message came on Nov. 5, 2020, before the election was ultimately called for Joe Biden.
Trump Jr. reportedly endorsed the fake electors' plan and his father's allies in Congress to overturn Biden's election victory on Jan. 6. Trump Jr. also apparently pushed to fire FBI director Chris Wray and replace him with Trump loyalist Richard Grenell.
According to Trump Jr.'s lawyer Alan S. Fuferfas, the message likely came from someone else and was forwarded to Meadows.
Another revelation from the text messages to Meadows by an undisclosed sender by the committee would implicate not only Meadows but also the former president's trade adviser Peter Navarro. Following the revelation by the Jan. 6 committee, anti-Trump conservative George Conway weighed in, saying that Meadows and Navarro may have violated two laws; corrupt obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the US.
Both violations result in a maximum of 20 and five-year prison sentences, respectively.
Aside from the message, Meadows also faced a possible criminal indictment for refusing to cooperate with the committee, and Navarro was recently criminally referred to the DOJ for contempt of Congress.