GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw says election deniers privately admit the conspiracy to challenge Biden's legitimacy 'was always a lie'
- Rep. Dan Crenshaw in an episode of his podcast recalled arguments in the GOP over election denial claims.
- Behind closed doors, he said, GOP officials acknowledge fraudulent election claims are "a lie."
In a conversation on his "Hold These Truths" podcast, GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas said politicians and media personalities pushing election denial claims know "it was always a lie" and acknowledge the falsehoods behind closed doors.
"The good news is none of these people will ever have any power to overturn elections," Crenshaw said in an episode discussing rank-choice voting with Nick Troiano of Unite America. "It was always a lie. It was always a lie. The whole thing was always a lie. And it was a lie meant to rile people up and, you know, I've talked about this ad nauseam — it really made me angry."
Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL, went on to say there is "not even a process" for overturning the electoral college and challenging election results, as Trump-supporting Republicans intended to do to overturn the 2020 election. In private conversations between members of the Republican party and political personalities, Crenshaw said, he has had arguments over members perpetuating the lies.
"'We just, you know, people just need their last their like their last hurrah, like, they just need to feel like we fought one last time. Trust me, they'll be fine,'" Crenshaw said election deniers have said to him to justify their public support of an unfounded claim to the presidency. "And I was like, 'No, it won't. That's not what people believe. And that's not what you're telling them.'"
The Texas representative has taken a critical stance against the more extreme members of his party, publicly supporting Trump critic Rep. Adam Kinzinger and calling members of the Freedom Caucus — which includes controversial congresspeople like Reps. Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene — "grifters" and "performance artists."
"So we have a lot of people in the political world that are just willing to say things they know aren't true," Crenshaw said in his podcast. "And it's it's a huge manipulation."
Representatives for Crenshaw did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.