Properly earlier than he secured the GOP nomination for House speaker, Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., played a key role in efforts by then-President and his allies to overturn ’s electoral victory in the 2020 election.
Johnson, who at the moment serves as the GOP caucus vice chair and is an ally of Trump, led the amicus brief signed by more than 100 House Republicans in help of a Texas lawsuit looking for to invalidate the 2020 election outcomes in 4 swing states gained by Biden: Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The lawsuit, filed by Texas Lawyer Common Ken Paxton, a Republican, known as on the Supreme Courtroom to delay the electoral vote in the 4 states in order for investigations on voting points to proceed amid Trump’s refusal to concede his loss. It alleged that the 4 states modified voting guidelines with out their legislatures’ categorical approval earlier than the 2020 election.
Johnson at the time sought support from his GOP colleagues for the lawsuit, sending them an email with the topic line “Time-sensitive request from President Trump.”
“President Trump known as me this morning to categorical his nice appreciation for our effort to file an amicus transient in the Texas case on behalf of involved Members of Congress,” Johnson wrote in the December 2020 e-mail, which was obtained by NBC Information.
“He particularly requested me to contact all Republican Members of the Home and Senate at this time and request that each one be part of on to our transient,” he continued. “He stated he might be anxiously awaiting the ultimate listing to evaluate.”
The lawsuit swiftly drew backlash from battleground state attorneys general, who decried it as a “publicity stunt” filled with “false and irresponsible” allegations. Legal experts additionally pointed to a sequence of hurdles the lawsuit had confronted, saying that Texas lacked the authority to declare that officers in different states failed to observe the guidelines set by their legislatures.
Johnson’s role in pursuing efforts to overturn the 2020 election outcomes has regained consideration just lately amid his speakership bid. On Tuesday, the political group of former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming — who broke with Trump over his baseless claims of a stolen election — circulated a New York Times article that known as him “the most necessary architect of the Electoral Faculty objections” on Jan. 6, 2021, aimed toward holding then-President Trump in workplace even after he misplaced.
The Occasions reported final 12 months that many Republicans who voted to low cost pro-Biden electors cited an argument crafted by Johnson, which was to ignore the false claims about mass fraud in the election and as a substitute dangle the objection on the declare that sure states’ voting modifications throughout the Covid-19 pandemic had been unconstitutional.
The Supreme Courtroom finally rejected Texas’ effort to overturn the election outcomes.
“Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable curiosity in the method in which one other state conducts its elections,” the courtroom stated in a transient unsigned opinion.
This text was initially printed on NBCNews.com
