Topline
The House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol believes former Energy Secretary Rick Perry is the author of a text message to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows that was turned over to the committee that called for encouraging Republican-led states to cast their Electoral College votes for Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election regardless of the outcome of the popular vote, according to CNN.
Former Energy Secretary Rick Perry, left, is accused of sending a text encouraging former White ... [+]
Key Facts
The text was part of the over 9,000 pages of documents Meadows turned over to the committee earlier this month as part of the committee’s investigation into Meadow’s role in the Capitol attack.
The message, sent Nov. 4, 2020, suggested an “agressive [sic] strategy” for Meadows to pursue: Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and other closely contested states with Republican state legislatures should call the presidential election “BS” and “send their own electors to vote and have it go to the [Supreme Court].”
According to CNN, “Multiple people who know Rick Perry confirmed to CNN that the phone number the committee has associated with that text message is Perry's number” and the number is connected to Perry on several databases, though his spokesman denied Perry is the author of the text.
A Perry spokesperson did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment.
Key Background
On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to recommend that criminal contempt of Congress charges be brought against Meadows for not cooperating with the January 6 committee’s investigation into the attack. Perry, who served as the governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015, was not the only prominent right-wing figure to be implicated in the documents turned over by Meadows to the committee. Fox News personalities Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Brian Kilmeade all texted Meadows to encourage Trump to take swift action against the January 6 rioters.
Further Reading
Fox News Stars—Ingraham, Hannity, Kilmeade—Stay Mum Over Jan. 6 Texts Urging Trump To Take Action (Forbes)
