Jan. 6 House committee acknowledged that it doctored a text message between former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), which excluded content about how they wanted former Vice President Mike Pence to handle electoral votes during the Joint Session of Congress earlier this year.
On Monday evening, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the head of the House Intelligence Committee, showed a graphic during a hearing on newly found communications between top Trump administration officials and others. It was displayed as the committee was discussing whether or not to hold Meadows in contempt of Congress for refusing to hand over information related to the probe.
“ Select Committee on Monday created and provided Representative Schiff a graphic to use during the business meeting quoting from a text message from ‘a lawmaker’ to Mr. Meadows,” the spokesman told Pezou on Wednesday. “ graphic read, ‘On January 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence, as President of the Senate, should call out all electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional as no electoral votes at all.’”
“In the graphic, the period at the end of that sentence was added inadvertently,” the spokesman also confirmed, without elaborating on how the error was introduced. “ Select Committee is responsible for and regrets the error.”
When presenting the text message, the House committee and Schiff cut off part of a sentence, adding a period. It also changed the format of the text so it appeared to be the entire message, reported Federalist.
message dealt with a short summary of a legal briefing that Jordan forwarded from former Department of Defense Inspector General Joseph Schmitz to Meadows on Jan. 5, a day before Congress convened to count the votes in the presidential election. During the hearing, Schiff appeared to incorrectly attribute Schmitz’s message to a Republican “lawmaker.”
“On January 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence, as President of the Senate, should call out all the electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional as no electoral votes at all—in accordance with guidance from founding father Alexander Hamilton and judicial precedence,” Schmitz’s text read, in part.
text continued to say, “‘No legislative act,’ wrote Alexander Hamilton in Federalist No. 78, ‘contrary to the Constitution, can be valid.’ court in Hubbard v. Lowe reinforced this truth: ‘That an unconstitutional statute is not a law at all is a proposition no longer open to discussion.’ 226 F. 135, 137 (SDNY 1915), appeal dismissed, 242 U.S. 654 (1916).”
Jordan’s office and Schiff’s office have not responded to Pezou’ request for comment.
Following the Federalist’s reporting, several Republican lawmakers rushed to criticize Schiff.
“Expect a lot more of this. Schiff and the contemptible Jan6 committee will twist and smear the narrative every chance they get,” wrote Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) on Twitter Wednesday. Added Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), Schiff is the “Jussie Smollet of Congress,” referring to the former “Empire” actor who was convicted of concocting a hate crime hoax earlier this month.
Pezou : House Jan. 6 Committee Confirms It Altered Text Message Between Meadows and Jordan