Comment Rep. Andy Harris (Md.) was among at least 10 House Republicans who participated in a December 2020 White House meeting with President Donald Trump to discuss actions that could be taken to keep Trump in office in January 6, 2021 The committee investigating the attack on the Capitol unveiled its final hearing. Harris’ presence suggests he was more closely involved in efforts to swing the 2020 election than previously known, making him one of Trump’s closest allies in Congress as the president desperately tried to cling to power despite being told White House lawyers and the Justice Department that there was no evidence of widespread election fraud. A Jan. 6 select committee testimony described a Dec. 18, 2020, meeting where Trump campaign officials clashed with White House staff. (Video: The Washington Post) “In the weeks following the election, the White House coordinated closely with President Trump’s allies in Congress to spread his false claims and encourage members of the public to fight the outcome on Jan. 6,” said spokeswoman Stephanie Murphy (D -Fla. ), who co-chaired Tuesday’s hearing with Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.). “We know the chairman met with various members to discuss on January 6 well before the joint meeting.” ‘Unhinged’: White House meeting ahead of Trump’s tweet ‘will be wild’ Murphy said White House visitor logs showed the president had a “private meeting with Republican members of Congress” on Dec. 21, a meeting that also included Vice President Mike Pence, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani. The meeting had previously been revealed in reporting at the time and in more recent court documents. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) had sent an email to Meadows to set up the meeting, with the subject line “White House Meeting Dec. 21 regarding Jan. 6,” according to the committee. In the email, Murphy noted, Brooks said he did not ask anyone to join him in the “Jan. 6 effort” because he believed “only citizens can have the necessary influence on senators and congressmen to participate in this fight against massive voter fraud and electoral theft.” Witnesses told the Jan. 6 committee that the meeting focused in part on “the role of the vice president in counting electoral votes,” Murphy said. Panelists debated what became known as the “Eastman theory”: that Pence could unilaterally decide which electoral votes he would reject or agree to keep Trump in office. Trump and his lawyer John Eastman have repeatedly pressed Pence to either throw out the results in disputed states or delay the proceedings so that the contested states can review the results and potentially send surrogate voters for Trump — plans that White’s lawyers House testified that they considered illegal. Trump’s aides told him that using Pence to sway the election was illegal Murphy said the requests for clemency came from Brooks and “other members of Congress who attended this meeting.” The Jan. 6 panel previously named five Republicans who reportedly sought pardons from Trump, though Harris was not among them. Jan. 6 panel names five Republicans who allegedly sought pardons from Trump Harris did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Former Justice Department lawyer Richard Donoghue testified last month that, according to notes he took of the conversation, Trump told him on Dec. 27 that the Justice Department should “just say the election is rigged + leave the rest to me and R [Republican] Congressmen”. Harris, despite previously saying he would limit the six-term limit, is seeking a seventh term in Congress this year. He is unopposed in Maryland’s July 19 primary, but two Democrats are vying to defeat him in November, each of whom called Harris a “traitor” as his involvement in meetings with Trump on Jan. 6 was revealed. “We learned yesterday that my opponent, Andy Harris, was in the White House conspiring with Trump to subvert a free and fair election,” Heather Mizer, a former Maryland House representative from Takoma Park, tweeted. which has raised nearly $2 million in its campaign. on Wednesday morning. “He is a traitor to our country and with your help I will overthrow him in November.” Harris “dishonored his office, violated his oath of office and chose the pursuit of power over the rule of law,” Dave Harden, a former State Service officer who is hoping to defeat Mizer in the Democratic primary, tweeted Wednesday. “He has embarrassed us.” Harris was joined by Reps. Brian Babin (Tex.), Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Louis Gohmert (Tex.), Paul A. Gossard (Ariz.), Jody Heiss (Ga.), Jim Jordan (Ohio) and Scott Perry (P.) attended the White House meeting on December 21 personally. Republican Rep.-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) was also there. In a taped interview in March, Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Meadows, said several other members who were not physically present called in during the meeting. He said he wasn’t in the meeting the whole time, but that during the parts he saw, “some members expressed their views and thoughts on January 6, what they thought the role of the Vice President might be,” according to a transcript of her interview in court documents. Cassidy Hutchinson’s journey from confidant to explosive witness “They felt he had the power to … send votes back to the States or electors back to the States, more along the lines of Eastman’s theory,” Hutchinson said. Hutchinson said as far as she can remember, none of the lawmakers dissented, according to the minutes. Harris contested the election results hours after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, and in the early morning hours of Jan. 7, he got into a heated argument with a Democrat on the House floor, prompting colleagues to intervene. Democrats were eager to defeat Harris in November, particularly after the Maryland General Assembly drew up a congressional redistricting map that would have allowed Democrats to win in Harris’ 1st District, which leans on the Eastern Shore. However, those hopes were largely dashed when a Maryland judge found that map to be an illegal operator and ordered a new one drawn. Now, under the final map, the district is solidly red, and political observers consider Harris safe in November.
