Leaked Texts from Kelly Loeffler Show Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Pressure Campaign On Contesting 2020 Election
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Former Senator Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) was under major political pressure to support the attempt to challenge Donald Trump’s 2020 election defeat, according to a trove of recently published text messages leaked to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
A collection of Loeffler’s text messages were leaked to several news organizations, and they shed light on her various conversations regarding the presidential election and the special-election runoff that she lost to Raphael Warnock (D). The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was made privy to Loeffler’s texted conversations. They reported that she was contacted by those who intended to dispute Congress’s certification of Joe Biden’s victory on January 6.
The re-created messages show how various colleagues and pro-Trump forces urged Loeffler to join them in objecting to the election certification, one of whom was incoming Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Greene (GA).
From AJC:
A month before the conservative firebrand was sworn into the U.S. House, Greene asked Loeffler to talk “about a plan we are developing on how to vote on the electoral college votes on Jan 6th.”
“I need a Senator!” Greene wrote on Dec. 2, 2020, “And I think this is a major help for you to win on the 5th!!”
Less than three weeks later, on Dec. 20, Greene invited Loeffler to a White House meeting the following day that she said she organized with Trump, his legal team and members of Congress “who are going to challenge the electoral college votes for Joe Biden in several key states on January 6th.”
At the suggestion of her aides, Loeffler reportedly told Greene she was with Ivanka Trump that day and couldn’t attend but added that “everything is on table with regard to Jan 6!” Loeffler was also contacted by Jody Hice (R-GA), who told her he’d attend the meeting and object to the election certification.
“Kelly, I wanted to give you the heads up that I will be contesting the electoral votes on January 6,” said Hice. “Wanted to check with you about doing the same in the Senate…I know you’ve had people ask, I was wondering if you have made a decision?”
In the midst of her runoff against Warnock, Loeffler proclaimed she would contest the 2020 election in order to get Trump to rally on her behalf. At the time, she was receiving more messages from Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and others asking her to join in their own election objection plans.
In the end, when Congress reconvened after the storming of the U.S. Capitol, Loeffler announced she would abandon her planned objection to the election results.
“The events that have transpired today have forced me to reconsider and I cannot now, in good conscience, object to the certification of these electors,” Loeffler said.
