Mr. Barr resigned in December. But behind the back of interim Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen, the president was conspiring with the Justice Department’s interim civil division chief, Jeffrey Clark, and a Pennsylvania congressman named Scott Perry to pressure Georgia to invalidate his results, investigate Dominion and bring up a new Supreme Court case challenging the entire election. The plot was cut short when Rosen, who was said to have been fired under the plan, assured the president that the department’s top officials would resign en masse.
This left Congressional certification as the main event.
Mr. McConnell had been working for weeks to keep his members in line. In a conference call in mid-December, he asked them to wait and protect the two Republican runoff candidates in Georgia from having to take a difficult position.
When Hawley took a step forward, according to Republican senators, McConnell hoped at least to keep him isolated.
But Cruz was working to the contrary, trying to recruit others to sign a letter outlining his circular logic: Because polls showed that Republicans’ “unprecedented allegations” of fraud convinced two-thirds of his party that Biden had stolen the election, it was up to Congress at least delay certification and order a 10-day audit in “disputed states”. Cruz, along with 10 other opponents, released the letter on Saturday after the New Year.
McConnell knew that Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, one of the most conservative Republicans, planned to speak out publicly against the move. Now, the majority leader has called Cotton, according to a Republican familiar with the conversation, and urged him to do so as soon as possible. Mr. Cotton quickly obeyed.
It was turning into a wills dispute within the Republican Party, and tens of thousands of Trump supporters converged on Washington to send a message to those who could challenge the president.
The demonstration had taken on a new brand, the March to Save America, and other groups were joining, including the Association of Republican Attorneys General. His political wing, the Rule of Law Defense Fund, promoted the event on a conference call that said, “We are going to march to the Capitol building and ask Congress to stop the theft,” according to a recording obtained by the investigative group. Documented progressive.