In the aftermath of the 2016 election, the public was told to have certain expectations about Donald Trump and his adult children. Trump Sr., of course, would lead the executive branch of the world’s preeminent global superpower, while his business would be led by his adult sons, who would not be part of the president’s White House team.
In the years that followed, the lines blurred — in both directions. Not only did Trump maintain an interest in, and profit from, his private-sector enterprise, but Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. became prominent political players in their father’s operation.
It’s against this backdrop that CNN reported today on a striking text message obtained by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.
Two days after the 2020 presidential election, as votes were still being tallied, Donald Trump’s eldest son texted then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows that “we have operational control” to ensure his father would get a second term, with Republican majorities in the US Senate and swing state legislatures, CNN has learned. In the text, which has not been previously reported, Donald Trump Jr. lays out ideas for keeping his father in power by subverting the Electoral College process, according to the message reviewed by CNN.
“It’s very simple,” Trump Jr. texted to Meadows on Nov. 5, a couple of days before the race was called for President Joe Biden. The message added, “We have multiple paths We control them all.”
In other words, it would appear that a sitting president’s son — ostensibly the head of the sitting president’s business — plotted behind the scenes with the White House chief of staff about overturning a presidential election.
Some caveats are in order. For one thing, this reporting has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News. For another, Trump Jr.’s lawyer did not dispute the validity of the text messages, though he did say in a statement, “After the election, Don received numerous messages from supporters and others. Given the date, this message likely originated from someone else and was forwarded.”
In other words, it’s possible that Trump Jr. did not write the message, so much as he referred someone else’s message to Meadows.
That said, given the context and circumstances, this wasn’t a situation in which Trump Jr. texted Meadows about having “operational control” for the heck of it. Team Trump was exploring ways to claim illegitimate power, and it was against this backdrop that the president’s son sent the missive.
Indeed, regardless of the text’s original author, the message proceeded to outline a plot that’s now familiar. CNN’s report added: Trump Jr. makes specific reference to filing lawsuits and advocating recounts to prevent certain swing states from certifying their results, as well as having a handful of Republican state houses put forward slates of fake “Trump electors.” If all that failed, according to the Trump Jr. text, GOP lawmakers in Congress could simply vote to reinstall Trump as President on January 6.
“Republicans control 28 states Democrats 22 states,” Trump Jr. texted. “Once again Trump wins…. We either have a vote WE control and WE win OR it gets kicked to Congress 6 January 2021.” What’s far from clear is why, exactly, we’re learning this now. Was there a leak from the House select committee? Did this Trump Jr. leak this as part a behind-the-scenes strategy? I won’t pretend to have any idea. That said, this reporting advances the broader story, leaves little doubt that Trump Jr. has an important perspective about the post-election events, and is in a position to assist congressional investigators as they put the pieces of information together.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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