\n\n“\u201cThis is a very weighty decision. All of us have prayed for God\u2019s discernment. I know I\u2019ve prayed for each of you individually,\u201d Johnson said at the meeting, according to a record of his comments obtained by POLITICO, before urging his fellow Republicans to join him in opposing the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A review of the chaotic weeks between Trump\u2019s defeat at the polls on Nov. 3, 2020, and the Jan. 6 Capitol attack shows that Johnson led the way in shaping legal arguments that became gospel among GOP lawmakers who sought to derail Biden\u2019s path to the White House \u2014 even after all but the most extreme options had elapsed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Trump\u2019s legal challenges faltered, Johnson consistently spread a singular message: It\u2019s not over yet. And when Texas filed a last-ditch lawsuit against four states on Dec. 8, 2020, seeking to invalidate their presidential election results and throw out millions of ballots, Johnson quickly revealed he would be helming an effort to support it with a brief signed by members of Congress<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout that period, Johnson was routinely in touch with Trump, even more so than many of his more recognizable colleagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some of Johnson\u2019s vocal opponents at the Jan. 5, 2021, closed-door meeting were Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who warned Johnson\u2019s plan would lead to a constitutional and political catastrophe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLet us not turn the last firewall for liberty we have remaining on its head in a bit of populist rage for political expediency,\u201d Roy said at the time, according to the record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nearly three years later, on Wednesday afternoon, Roy and Bacon cast two of the unanimous House GOP votes to make Johnson the next speaker.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Johnson then ran through a litany of allegations of election law changes in key states that he said were unconstitutional \u2014 and then he lent credence to a discredited claim of election fraud: \u201cThe allegation about these voting machines, some of them being rigged with the software by Dominion \u2014 look, there\u2019s a lot of merit to that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the same interview, Johnson \u2014 who as speaker will be privy to the nation\u2019s most sensitive intelligence secrets \u2014 returned to the Dominion matter. He embraced the false description of Dominion machines as \u201ca software system that is used all around the country that is suspect because it came from Hugo Chavez\u2019s Venezuela.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the hosts pressed Johnson on Trump\u2019s losses in court, the Louisianan noted that there were still a dozen suits pending but it was an \u201cuphill climb.\u201d Later that day, House Republicans elected Johnson as the vice chair of the GOP conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Johnson joined the effort to support Texas\u2019 fight at the Supreme Court, he said Trump had been in touch with him yet again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPresident Trump called me this morning to let me know how much he appreciates the amicus brief we are filing on behalf of Members of Congress,\u201d\u00a0Johnson tweeted<\/a>\u00a0the next day.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n