About
On Dec. 9, 2020, a group of 27 Republican congressmen sent a letter to President Trump asking him to order Attorney General William Barr to appoint a special counsel to investigate “irregularities in the 2020 election.” Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Texas) had initially written and sent the letter on his own the previous week but sent it again after more than two dozen GOP congressmen expressed interest in signing it, too.
The letter originated out of frustration with Barr’s Dec. 1 comment in an AP interview that “to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.” In the letter, the congressmen point fingers at Barr and the DOJ, alleging that the attorney general had failed to look into the “irregularities” and that the “Department of Justice has been asked on multiple occasions to launch an investigation into this matter, but inaction from the Department along with public comments made by the Attorney General indicate a lack of willingness to investigate the irregularities your campaign and other elected officials across the nation have alleged.”
The following representatives signed the letter:
- Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.)
- Rick Allen (R-Ga.)
- Brian Babin (R-Texas)
- Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.)
- Jack Bergman (R-Mich.)
- Mo Brooks (R-Ala.)
- Ted Budd (R-N.C.)
- Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.)
- Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio)
- Louie Gohmert (R-Texas)
- Lance Gooden (R-Texas)
- Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.)
- Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.)
- Andy Harris (R-Md.)
- Jody Hice (R-Ga.)
- Steve King (R-Iowa)
- Thomas Massie (R-Ky.)
- Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.)
- Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.)
- Ralph Norman (R-S.C.)
- Scott Perry (R-Pa.)
- David Rouzer (R-N.C.)
- John Rutherford (R-Fla.)
- Adrian Smith (R-Neb.)
- Greg Steube (R-Fla.)
- Randy Weber (R-Texas)
- Ron Wright (R-Texas)
The Big Lie
- Although the letter to Trump didn’t cite any credible evidence of election fraud, the congressmen wrote that Americans “deserve a definitive resolution to the uncertainty hovering over the outcome of our election, but legitimate questions of voter fraud remain unanswered.”
- In the letter, the signatories purport to be interested in “the truth” about the election at the same time that their action is helping to reinforce the Big Lie. “The appointment of a Special Counsel would establish a team of investigators whose sole responsibility is to uncover the truth and provide the certainty America needs,” they wrote.
- Ultimately, the Dec. 9 letter spearheaded by Gooden didn’t lead to the appointment of a special counsel, though it may have reinforced Trump’s determination to fire Barr, who submitted his resignation five days later.