Rep. Zoe Lofgren's Report Bares Lawmakers' Posts Bashing Election Before Capitol Riot
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) issued a massive 2,000-page report on Friday exposing thousands of social media posts by GOP lawmakers attacking the presidential election and spreading lies before and after the deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol by Donald Trump supporters seeking to overturn the results.
Lofgren, chair of the House Administration Committee, indicated that the information could be used to oust — or criminally charge — lawmakers who illegally fomented insurrection against the very government they’ve taken a vow to serve.
The exposure of posts in Lofgren’s “Social Media Review” followed a report last week in The Intercept that the FBI has already collected “thousands of phone and electronic records” of people who were at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Investigators are targeting communications between members of Congress or their staffs, and the pro-Trump insurrectionists, CNN reported, seeking any indication of conspiracies to overthrow the government.
Lofgren’s report targets messages by Republican lawmakers who voted to challenge the presidential election results and who continued to peddle lies and conspiracy theories about the November vote even after the Capitol insurrection, which FBI Director Christopher Wray has characterized as domestic terrorism.
Some of Trump’s staunchest supporters in the House posted more than 100 messages each casting doubt on the presidential election results in less than three months, according to the collected messages.
Messages posted by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), who was the keynote speaker at a white nationalist conference in Florida just last week, took up 177 pages in the report. He peddled baseless claims that the election had been stolen and that officials who had been upholding the legitimate election were committing “treason and sedition.”
Gosar had several interactions with “@Ali” on Twitter, the since-suspended username for Ali Alexander, one of the main organizers of the “Stop the Steal” campaign as well as the rally at the Capitol on Jan. 6, according to his published posts.
Posts by incendiary QAnon supporter Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) took up 100 pages in the report.
“Like former President Trump, any elected Member of Congress who aided and abetted the insurrection or incited the attack seriously threatened our democratic government,” Lofgren wrote in the introduction to her report.
“They would have betrayed their oath of office and would be implicated in the same constitutional provision cited in the article of impeachment” against Trump following the Capitol riot, she noted.
“That provision prohibits any person who has previously taken an oath as a member of Congress to support the Constitution but subsequently engaged in insurrection or rebellion from serving in Congress,” Lofgren added.
The report by Lofgren’s staff is the first publicly available compilation of Facebook and Twitter posts from Nov. 3, 2020, to Jan. 31, 2021, by the 147 House Republicans who voted to challenge state-certified Electoral College votes in an attempt to stop Joe Biden from taking office.
“Statements which are readily available in the public arena may be part of any consideration of Congress’ constitutional prerogatives and responsibilities,” Lofgren noted.
Lofgren’s complete report is available here.
