Several Republican lawmakers wanted President Donald Trump to declare martial law in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2020, attack on the Capitol ahead of President Biden’s inauguration, according to newly revealed text messages turned over to the House panel investigating the attack.
In a text to Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Jan. 17, 2020, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, said lawmakers worried about the “stolen election” destroying the country and discussed the measure as a last resort to keep Mr. Trump in office.
“In our private chat with only Members, several are saying the only way to save our Republic is for Trump to call for Marshall (sic) law,” Mrs. Greene said. “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!”
The text is among 2,319 conversations Mr. Meadows turned over to the House panel that were recently leaked to CNN.
Mr. Meadows did not respond to Mrs. Green’s text, according to CNN.
Mrs. Greene is facing a legal challenge brought forward by Georgia activists who say she should be disqualified from running for reelection. The activists contend her statements regarding the attack on the Capitol make her an accomplice to inciting an insurrection.
Last week, Mrs. Greene testified as part of the proceedings to bar her from reelection that she could not recall much of the specifics surrounding the events leading up to and on Jan. 6, 2021.
During the proceedings, she was asked specifically whether she advocated for martial law before the inauguration. She said she could not recall.
The newly released texts also show that several Trump firebrands, including Mrs. Greene, initially raised concerns with the White House as rioters stormed the Capitol before later accusing far-left agitators of perpetrating the attack.
“Mark I was just told there is an active shooter on the first floor of the Capitol Please tell the President to calm people. This isn’t the way to solve anything,” Mrs. Greene texted Mr. Meadows at 2:28 p.m. as the attack on the Capitol unfolded.
Others voiced similar concerns.
“Mark: he needs to stop this, now. Can I do anything to help?” Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s former acting White House chief of staff, texted Meadows that afternoon.
Later that afternoon, however, Mrs. Greene was among several lawmakers and Trump campaign insiders who suggested that the rioters were not Trump supporters.
The theory was floated initially by Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller who proposed in a text at 3:45 p.m. to Mr. Meadows and Trump aide Dan Scavino that the president tweet that the attack was carried out by “Bad apples, likely ANTIFA or other crazed leftists,” who “infiltrated today’s peaceful protests.”
Mrs. Greene proposed a similar theory minutes later.
“Mark we don’t think these attackers are our people. We think they are Antifa,” Mrs. Greene texted at 3:52 p.m. “Dressed like Trump supporters.”
Rep. Louie Gohmert, Texas Republican, similarly texted Mr. Meadows with concerns that the protest was hijacked.
“Cap Police told me last night they’d been warned that today there’d be a lot of Antifa dressed in red Trump shirts & hats & would likely get violent,” Mr. Gohmert said.
The vast majority of protestors present at the Capitol during the riot were supporters of Mr. Trump, according to hundreds of indictments.
The committee has yet to fully release the trove of texts Mr. Meadows turned over in late 2021.
Earlier this month, CNN released a cache of exchanges between Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, both of whom voted to certify the election in favor of President Biden on Jan. 6, 2021, that show the lawmakers repeatedly pressed then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows for concrete evidence and voiced concern over Mr. Trump’s legal strategy to overturn the results, before finally breaking with the president.
The House committee subpoenaed Mr. Meadows last September. After handing over the texts, Mr. Meadows ceased cooperating with the probe, citing Mr. Trump’s claim of executive privilege.
The House voted in December to recommend that the Justice Department charge Mr. Meadows with criminal contempt of Congress for twice failing to appear for a deposition in defiance of the committee’s subpoena.
The Justice Department has yet to formally charge Mr. Meadows.