MSNBC aired more whistleblower audio of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) Tuesday, this time dissecting a tape that appears to feature him plotting to overthrow the 2020 election—well before the events of Jan. 6.
The revelations come courtesy of Fox whistleblower Abby Grossberg, who provided the tapes to MSNBC host Ari Melber.
According to the files, Cruz reportedly tried to sell his plan to Fox host and Trump ally Maria Bartiromo on Jan. 2—four days before the Capitol riot—pitching a scheme to overthrow the 2020 election by blocking the certification of Joe Biden’s win on Jan. 6, then establishing a commission to investigate the nonexistent claims of fraud which would ultimately “decide” who to inaugurate.
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“As we were looking at this Jan. 6 certification, all of the options that were being discussed were problematic,” Cruz explains.
“And so I wanted to find a path that was consistent with the Constitution and the law, and that address these very real serious claims.”
Airing the audio, Melber explains that when Bartiromo asks Cruz who would eventually decide who gets inaugurated under his plan, “Cruz answers that this fake, made up, so-called commission that he and his Trump buddies were planning to try to create to bureaucratize a coup—and that’s what they were trying to do—that was his answer, that’s how they would steal this race.”
The claims in the recording add detail to previous statements made by the Texas Republican—who the same day as his phone call with Bartiromo released a statement outlining a bare-bones plan to challenge the 2020 election results on Jan. 6.
Cruz subsequently blasted MSNBC’s coverage Tuesday, tweeting: “This @msnbc is breathlessly reporting that I ‘secretly’ said in a phone call…the EXACT same thing I said on national television the next morning! And then said again on the Senate floor four days later.”
In a tweet in response to The Daily Beast’s story, Steve Guest, Special Advisor for Communications for Cruz, referred to a joint statement released by the Texas Republican and six other GOP senators released on Jan. 2, 2021, the same day Cruz spoke with Bartiromo.
The statement outlines his plans to challenge the 2020 election results on Jan. 6.
“Congress should immediately appoint an Electoral Commission, with full investigatory and fact-finding authority, to conduct an emergency 10-day audit of the election returns in the disputed states. Once completed, individual states would evaluate the Commission's findings and could convene a special legislative session to certify a change in their vote, if needed.”
“Accordingly, we intend to vote on January 6 to reject the electors from disputed states as not ‘regularly given’ and ‘lawfully certified’ (the statutory requisite), unless and until that emergency 10-day audit is completed.”
Last week, The Beat aired audio of a conversation between Cruz and Bartiromo in November 2020 which stressed the importance of network guests coming on air with facts to support their claims about widespread voter fraud.
“It can’t just be, you know, somebody tweeted this,” Cruz told Bartiromo on Nov. 7, the same day the election was called for Joe Biden by all major networks.
“It’s got to be demonstrable facts that can be laid out with evidence because that’s what a court of law is going to look to—not just an allegation but actual fact.”
Grossberg said in a separate interview on MSNBC Tuesday that she has at least 90 more unaired recordings that she needs to review.
