During a new appearance on MSNBC, Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) denounced Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) as a “traitor” over a text that he sent to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows calling for then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject certain electoral votes for Biden during the Congressional proceedings to certify the presidential election outcome. In reality, Pence did not, in his role overseeing the certification proceedings, have the legally recognized ability to undertake such a move, which would have amounted to blocking the duly documented will of the people from being enacted — in other words, the stuff of authoritarian regimes.
A key take away from the Jan 6 Comm’s work – they aren’t treating that day as a stand-alone event. They view it as the culmination of Trump’s efforts to steal the election, including coercion in GA & the plan to replace DOJ leadership with someone who’d further the big lie.
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) December 15, 2021
Gallego observed as follows:
‘Look, Jim Jordan is a traitor. He’s a traitor to the Constitution of the United States. He has been a traitor to the Constitution of the United States for quite a while, and now we actually have it in text. But we shouldn’t be surprised. And why is anybody surprised? We saw it on the floor, when they were calling out Arizona, for example… and saying that there were fraudulent votes. And they made up lies on the House floor. So how are we surprised right now? How is anybody surprised by any of this, right? My biggest issue isn’t Jim Jordan. My issue is the fact that there are a lot of people who are not taking this seriously — the fact that there is a slow-moving coup that is happening right now all over this country led by the Jim Jordans and other people.’
Donald Trump was responsible for the attack on the Capitol
Donald Trump was responsible for the attack on the Capitol
Donald Trump was responsible for the attack on the Capitol
Donald Trump was responsible for the attack on the Capitol
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) December 16, 2021
The reference to Jordan and others “calling out Arizona” connects to the proceedings to certify the election outcome earlier this year. Arizona was one of the states targeted by allies in Congress of the then-president, although no legitimate evidence of systematic election fraud has ever been uncovered, in Arizona or anywhere else. Gallego’s remark about a “slow-moving coup,” meanwhile, refers to attempts by pro-Trump individuals to essentially take over the electoral process. Check out Gallego’s comments below:
According to an NBC report, the message that Jordan sent Meadows had been forwarded by the Congressman from conservative lawyer and 2016 Trump campaign adviser Joseph Schmitz. In part, the message insisted that “On January 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence, as President of the Senate, should call out all electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional as no electoral votes at all — in accordance with guidance from founding father Alexander Hamilton and judicial precedence.” It went on to cite specific instances of this “guidance,” concluding by insisting that “an unconstitutionally appointed elector, like an unconstitutionally enacted statute, is no elector at all” — although again, there’s no legitimate evidence that any electoral votes following last year’s election were actually unconstitutionally determined.
Today’s reminder that the GOP members of Congress who advised or encouraged Trump, Meadows and others to reject electoral votes were themselves elected in the same election on the same ballots under the same state and federal election laws.
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) December 15, 2021
