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“Just say we won.”
While former President Trump was pushing lies about voter fraud for months leading up to the 2020 election, new reporting on what occurred on election night at the White House is a reminder of the extent to which Trump’s democracy dismantling was rooted in absolutely nothing. That night, Rudy Giuliani was leading the lie-flinging charge.
According to an excerpt from Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker’s new book, “I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year,” Giuliani and his son Andrew set up their own command center on the party floor of the White House on election night, away from President Trump, who was watching the returns in the first family’s private area and away from the rest of the team staked out in the Map Room.
After a few hours, Rudy started getting unruly, according to the book excerpt, telling other guests on the party floor that he had a plan for Trump and that he needed to speak to him. Some thought he’d had too much to drink.
Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and campaign adviser Jason Miller brought Giuliani to the Map Room to discuss his “strategy.”
Giuliani reportedly listed out each state, asking senior aides what the plan was for each. They reportedly told the former mayor it was too early to have any sort of strategy and votes were still being counted.
“Just say we won,” Giuliani reportedly said, solidifying the big lie as a big lie.
From the excerpt:
Same thing in Pennsylvania. ‘Just say we won Pennsylvania,’ Giuliani said.
Giuliani’s grand plan was to just say Trump won, state after state, based on nothing. Stepien, Miller and Meadows thought his argument was both incoherent and irresponsible.
‘We can’t do that,’ Meadows said, raising his voice. ‘We can’t.’
Here’s more on other news TPM cares about today:
Morning Memo Highlights
A lot of news has happened. Some highlights from TPM’s Morning Memo, a new roundup of all things we think you should know heading into your day:
- Behind Closed Doors: Republican National Committee chief counsel Justin Riemer privately admitted that Rudy Giuliani and Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis’ post-election lawsuits were “a joke” and that the two attorneys were “getting laughed out of court,” according to an email obtained by the Washington Post.
- Galaxy Brain: A Newsmax host argued that getting vaccinated “is just generally kind of going against nature” and that a bunch of people dying from disease is just the way the cookie crumbles, man. “Maybe there’s just an ebb and flow to life where something’s supposed to wipe out a certain amount of people,” he mused.
If You Read Anything From TPM This Afternoon, Read This
‘Kraken’ Team Pelts Judge With Fraud 2020 Redux In Sanctions Hearing — Josh Kovensky
Coming Up …
Biden will be giving a voting rights speech in which he’s expected to slam the GOP’s voter suppression efforts at 2:50 p.m. ET in Philadelphia.
Yesterday’s Most Read Story
What We Are Reading
Everyone Wants Health Care Reform. Industry Lobbying Won’t Let Them Have It. — Luke Savage
“NRA shot itself in the foot”: Schumer calls for DOJ probe of possible bankruptcy fraud — Igor Derysh
Joe Biden Is Done Coddling Conservatives And Their Anti-Vaccine Bullshit — Bess Levin
