A congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol continues to uncover details about how former President Trump's chief of staff and a small group of far-right GOP members of Congress — including Texas' Louie Gohmert — tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Recent reporting by The New York Times describes how six Republican lawmakers in the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus "became key foot soldiers" of the Trump White House as it endeavored to invalidate Joe Biden's victory.
Those efforts included fueling misinformation about how the election had been stolen, pressuring Department of Justice officials and members of state legislatures to investigate allegations of voter fraud and audit election results, refusing to certify those results themselves, and crafting a plan to replace the acting attorney general with someone more willing to help Trump retain power.
Without evidence, Rep. Gohmert claimed there was "rampant" voter fraud in Philadelphia and that German computer servers had been used to change American votes. He also sued Mike Pence —unsuccessfully — after the former Vice President refused to interfere in the election certification.
Gohmert, a Republican who has represented Texas's 1st congressional district since 2005, is now running to be the state's next Attorney General.
The select committee's probe into the attack on the U.S. Capitol is ongoing. On Dec. 14, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to hold Mark Meadows, Trump's former chief of staff, in contempt for refusing to cooperate with the Jan. 6 investigation.
Guest: Luke Broadwater, Congressional reporter for The New York Times
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*This interview was recorded on Monday, December 20.