At the Utah Senate debate on Monday night, incumbent Republican Sen. Mike Lee denied having had a role in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election for former President Donald Trump when challenged by conservative independent Evan McMullin.
"There were rumors circulating suggesting that some states were considering switching out their slates of electors," said Lee. "I did research on that; I made phone calls to figure out whether the rumors were true. The rumors were false. On that basis, I voted to certify the results of the elections."
But on Tuesday, CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale dismantled Lee's characterization of how he handled the 2020 election — bringing up his past text messages to show Lee was in fact in on Republican efforts to challenge the result.
"One part of the story is true: Lee did vote on January 6 to certify Biden’s victory, saying Congress didn’t have a constitutional role in the process other than opening and counting the electoral votes," wrote Dale. "But before that – according to his texts to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, which were obtained by the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol – he wasn’t merely doing research to look into the truth of rumors. To the contrary, the texts show Lee telling Meadows that he was engaged in an intensive attempt, until at least two days prior to January 6, to somehow find a way that Donald Trump could be named the winner of the election."
For example, noted Dale, on December 8, 2020, Lee wrote to Meadows, “If a very small handful of states were to have their legislatures appoint alternative slates of delegates, there could be a path.” And on January 4, 2021, Lee wrote to Meadows, “I’ve been spending 14 hours a day for the last week trying to unravel this for [Trump].” He even told Meadows he had been "calling state legislatures personally" to explore overturning electors, and he tried to help conspiracy theorist lawyer Sidney Powell, a key figure in the strategy sessions to overturn the election, get a meeting at the White House.
Ultimately, Lee did vote to certify the results in Arizona and Pennsylvania, in the face of other Republicans trying to raise objections, saying, “Our job is to convene to open the ballots and to count them. That's it.” Those votes happened after the violent insurrection at the Capitol.
Lee, who has generated controversy for denying that the United States is a democracy, is in a surprisingly close race against McMullin, in a state where Republicans tend to easily win by double digits. Lee has repeatedly sought the endorsement of his fellow Utah senator, Mitt Romney, in recent weeks, to the irritation of Romney's inner circle.
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