Sen. Mike Lee says he 'wasn't in any way encouraging' state legislators to submit alternate pro-Trump electors ahead of January 6
- Sen. Mike Lee gave his first interview since texts between him and Mark Meadows came to light.
- He said he "wasn't in any way encouraging" states to change electors while spending "14 hours a day" calling them.
Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah says he was just doing his due diligence as a senator after texts between him and Mark Meadows, former President Donald Trump's one-time chief of staff, appeared to show that Lee was working behind the scenes to try to help Trump overturn the 2020 election results.
"Please tell me what I should be saying," Lee texted Meadows on November 22, 2020.
In an interview with Deseret News, Lee said he was texting his long-time colleague informally, and simply wanted to know what the Trump White House's message was at that point.
"He knows me well enough to know that that doesn't mean I will do your bidding, whatever it is," Lee told the outlet.
The texts, which were first reported by CNN on April 15, also showed that Lee had "grave concerns" about Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas's plans to object to the certification of the election results in two states.
But Lee apparently thought that Trump could remain in power through a different pathway: if state legislature submitted alternate, pro-Trump slates of electors, or even if they a majority of that state's legislators were "willing to sign a statement indicating how they would vote," as he told Meadows on January 4.
The texts also showed Lee's frustration with Trump's antics, with the former president's call-out of Lee at a Georgia rally incensing the Utah senator.
"I've been spending 14 hours a day for the last week trying to unravel this for him," Lee wrote to Meadows on January 4, referring to his phone calls to state legislators around the country. "To have him take a shot at me like that in such a public setting without even asking me about it is pretty discouraging."
"We need something from state legislatures to make this legitimate and to have any hope of winning," he also said. "Even if they can't convene, it might be enough if a majority of them are willing to sign a statement indicating how they would vote."
Asked about the exchange by Deseret News, Lee argued that those "14 hours a day" were spent simply inquiring whether or not states would be changing any electoral votes.
"At no point in any of those was I engaging in advocacy. I wasn't in any way encouraging them to do that. I just asked them a yes or no question," Lee told the outlet.
He went on to argue that he was approaching the issue in the same way that he approaches other topics as a senator.
"You research, read, talk it through with your colleagues, you follow the Constitution," he said. "This one proved to be a lot more trickier than most because it involved an ever-changing plate of facts."
He also told the outlet that he thinks the release of the text messages were intended to hurt his re-election chances. On Thursday, Salt Lake Tribune reporter Brian Schott attempted to ask Lee about the texts at a Republican Party convention in Utah while Lee met with party members, only to be physically rebuffed by the senator's aides.