Newt Gingrich—the architect of the Republican comeback in the ’90s who has mostly faded from the stage—quietly advised Team Trump to “arouse the country’s anger” with TV ads after the 2020 election to amplify the lie that Donald Trump won the presidential election that year.
That’s according to the House Jan. 6 committee, which revealed Thursday that it has obtained emails showing how the former House speaker turned Republican operative played a role behind the scenes to instigate the disappointed MAGA crowd.
The committee has formally requested that the one-time politician meet with investigators and discuss his previously undisclosed activities, which appear to have fueled the former president’s ill-advised attempt to cling to power after losing to President Joe Biden.
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“You provided detailed input into television advertisements that repeated and relied upon false claims about fraud in the 2020 election. These advertising efforts were not designed to encourage voting for a particular candidate. Instead, these efforts attempted to cast doubt on the outcome of the election after voting had already taken place. They encouraged members of the public to contact their state officials and pressure them to challenge and overturn the results of the election,” Chairman Bennie Thompson wrote to Gingrich in a message made public by the committee.
The committee cited a Dec. 8, 2020, email Gingrich wrote to Trump son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner and social media guru Jason Miller addressing a proposed TV advertisement script.
“The goal is to arouse the country’s anger through new verifiable information the American people have never seen before,” Gingrich wrote. “If we inform the American people in a way they find convincing and it arouses their anger[,] they will then bring pressure on legislators and governors.”
