In the days leading up to the Jan 6 insurrection, former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows received "thousands of frantic text message" from Trump's inner circle — including Fox hosts (e.g., Sean Hannity), lawmakers, and all-purpose minions. And one of these newly released text messages, now in the hands of the House select committee, was "particularly foreboding," as described by Washington Post reporter Carol Leonnig.
According to The Washington Post, the text, sent by an anonymous lawmaker and member of the House Freedom Caucus on Jan 1 or 2, said "If POTUS allows this to occur… we're driving a stake in the heart of the federal republic."
One of the big questions now is, what did they mean by "this"?
From HuffPost:
Leonnig said that it was possible the lawmaker meant the pressure on then-Vice President Mike Pence to block the certification of the 2020 election in Congress (which he ultimately refused to do).
"But what else could the 'this' be?" she asked. "How grim and chilling a piece of information is this, if this lawmaker knew something Donald Trump was plotting beyond what we all know now?"
