Texts show Utah Sen. Lee's early work to overturn election

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Utah Sen. Mike Lee worked on early efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, helping push legally dubious schemes to keep then-President Donald Trump in power, before he shifted course and quickly backed away. At another he asked Meadows, “Please tell me what I should be saying.” By mid-November, however, the messages show Lee beginning to lose confidence in Powell and, eventually, the alternate electors plan. Still, Lee’s Republican primary opponent Becky Edwards, a former state lawmaker, said the messages show Lee “researched overturning a lawful, democratic election for partisan and political gain. Lee’s spokesman, for his part, said the senator did follow the Constitution and the messages “tell the same story Sen. Lee told from the floor of the Senate the day he voted to certify the election results.” Lee's messages are the latest example of high-profile Republicans pushing Meadows to challenge the election results.