Tennessee’s Rep. Mark Green — whose 7th Congressional District now includes parts of Nashville after Republican-led gerrymandering — was in direct communication with then-Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows about overturning the 2020 presidential election.
Talking Points Memo published a story on Monday with the headline “Mark Meadows Exchanged Texts With 34 Members of Congress About Plans to Overturn The 2020 Election,” which is part of a larger series — “The Meadows Texts: A Plot to Overturn an American Election.” Included in the story are text messages, as uncovered by the Jan. 6 Select Committee, between Meadows and lawmakers that occurred following the 2020 general election and surrounding the events of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
According to TPM, Green sent the following text to Meadows, followed by a link to a Newsmax segment theorizing how the election could be turned to then-President Donald Trump’s favor:
Dick Morris is saying State Leg can intervene and declare Trump winner.�NC, PA, MI, WI all have GOP Leg. �
TPM reports that the text log did not include responses from Meadows to Green.
Green’s office did not dispute the authenticity of the message, with spokesperson Rachel del Guidice telling TPM, “Congressman Green was passing along what constituents were sending him to keep the White House informed on the sentiments of his constituents,” and that, “He wasn’t advocating for any specific course of action.”
Del Guidice did not respond to a request for additional comment in time for publication.
Other members of Congress named in the story include South Carolina’s Rep. Ralph Norman. According to TPM, Norman sent a message to Meadows three days before President Joe Biden was set to take office, calling on Trump to declare martial law to remain in power.
On Dec. 30, 2020, Green’s office issued a press release reading in part, “On behalf of my constituents in Tennessee’s 7th District who sent me to Washington to be their voice, I will be supportive of an objection on January 6.”
On Jan. 6, 2021, his office released a statement reading in part: “Since the election, I’ve heard from countless Tennesseans who have serious doubts about the integrity of the 2020 presidential election. Here in the United States, the right of citizens to elect their leaders is the bedrock of our exceptional nation. Any single illegal vote counted means another American’s vote has been disenfranchised.”
This comment came the same day thousands of people stormed the United States Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election, resulting in the hundreds of injuries and several deaths. More than a dozen Tennesseans were arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 violence, including a former Williamson County Sheriff’s Office deputy in training.
Green was not alone in falsely questioning the results of the 2020 election, after which no evidence of widespread voter fraud was identified, with similar stances coming from Tennessee’s U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty. Other local Republican leaders and Trump supporters held numerous “Stop the Steal” rallies leading up to the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Read More: Report: Green messaged Meadows about efforts to overturn election | Elections