Sen. Mike Lee "would have said less" if he'd known pre-Jan. 6 texts would go public
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
U.S. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) speaks at the National Conservative Conference in Washington D.C. on July 9, 2024. (Photo: Dominic Gwinn/Middle East Images via AFP)
U.S. Sen. Mike Lee defended his role in the lead-up to the Jan. 6 insurrection in a revelatory interview published Tuesday by The Atlantic.
Why it matters: Lee (R-Utah) argued that because former President Trump did, in fact, leave office following Joe Biden's victory — which Lee ultimately certified — both he and Trump are exonerated in their efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Catch up quick: Text messages obtained by CNN in 2022 showed Lee pushed Trump's staff to enlist two separate Republican attorneys who now are tied to criminal cases that alleged efforts to subvert the election.
- Lawyer Sidney Powell eventually pleaded guilty in Georgia. John Eastman, a Colorado attorney was identified as a co-conspirator in the indictments filed against Trump by special counsel Jack Smith. He proposed having Vice President Mike Pence overrule the certification of the results.
- The messages show Lee also sought to urge state legislators to appoint "alternate electors" to favor Trump. After that failed, Lee begged Trump's then-chief of staff Mark Meadows for "guidance on what arguments to raise," echoing an earlier plea: "I just need to know what I should be saying."
Friction point: Asked if he had any regrets, Lee told The Atlantic: "Well, you know, had I known that my texts would be leaked to the public selectively, perhaps I would've said less in text messages."
What they're saying: "The senator doesn't seem to regret actively participating in an attempted coup. He regrets being caught," Atlantic reporter Tim Alberta wrote.
The intrigue: Lee also "smirked" at the suggestion that Pence was in danger at the U.S. Capitol when members of a mob who chanted "Hang Mike Pence" came within five to 10 feet of him.
- "Who actually tried to kill Mike Pence?" Lee responded. "Who actually tried to kill him?"
The big picture: The Atlantic chronicles Lee's transformation from "a good-natured Latter-day Saint whose idea of edgy was doing corny impersonations of his fellow senators," to a Trump die-hard who "regularly engages in crude conspiracy theories."
- "It's as if Ned Flanders became a 4chan troll," Alberta wrote.
Flashback: Lee supported Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, then a Trump rival, in the 2016 GOP primary and sought to revamp rules at the Republican National Convention to remove Trump from the ticket.
- As a MAGA acolyte four years later, Lee likened Trump to Captain Moroni, a heroic figure in the Book of Mormon. The comparison drew backlash from some members of the faith.
Lee's office did not immediately respond to Axios' request for contact.