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Salon
Salon
Politics
Sarah Burris

Republicans behind Jan. 6 texts revealed

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call

There are 2,319 text messages that former chief of staff Mark Meadows turned over to the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack and the events that led up to it.

Until today, the House committee revealed what the messages were, but not all of them were connected to the people who sent them. However, CNN is making more of the details public.

One text message read by the committee in a public hearing was a note saying, "POTUS needs to calm this sh*t down."

CNN revealed that Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., was the one behind the message. Duncan was one of many Republican officials who voted to block the Electoral College count on Jan. 6. He has long been a supporter of former President Donald Trump, despite private anger about Trump's role in the Capitol attack via text message.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who was earlier enthusiastic about trying to block certification but later backed off when he realized the evidence of voter fraud simply wasn't there, was similarly blunt.

"Fix this now," wrote Roy in a text to Meadows that was previously revealed publicly.

Former communications aide Alyssa Farah Griffin spoke on The View that she appeared before the committee a second time and that the members had very pointed questions.

"I thought the President could stop it and was the only person who could stop it," she explained. She'd previously left the White House the month before when Trump began to promote the so-called "Big Lie."

"When he finally tweeted something hours and hours later, there are reports of people inside the building saying, 'He's saying to go home.' They would have listened to him," she also said.

"Potus has to come out firmly and tell protesters to dissipate. Someone is going to get killed," she said to Meadows in another text message.

Former Trump chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, also told Meadows: "Mark: he needs to stop this, now. Can I do anything to help?"

He later told CNN, "I wish someone had responded to my outreach."

"I thought there was only one person who could stop it and that was the President," CNN cited a senior Republican. "I don't know that I can think of another situation that was as grave for the nation, or as affecting for the nation, where the President didn't say something."

One associate of Meadows' said that the Trump chief waited far too long to act.

"Two hours is just inexcusable ... when the safety of the federal government is in question you have the duty immediately to speak out. And Trump was derelict in that duty," the person told CNN.

Read the full details at CNN.com

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