WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A lawyer pushing the baseless claim of massive fraud in the 2020 election has urged former President Donald Trump to overturn his defeat through measures that would be seen as “martial law”, according to a memo posted online on Saturday by the New York Times. York Times.
The steps attorney William Olson proposed Trump take included replacing the acting attorney general if he refused to challenge the US Supreme Court vote. The memo showed https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/olson-memo -trump-election/e59dca011b5db8c5/full.pdf.
Olson appeared to suggest those powers included ordering “sample lists of registered voters,” the memo showed.
“Our small group of lawyers is working on a memorandum that explains exactly what you can do,” Olson wrote to Trump in the memo, dated Dec. 28, 2020. “The media will call this martial law, but… that it’s ‘fake news,’ a concept you’re familiar with.”
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The memo obtained by the Times first revealed Olson’s role in efforts by right-wing actors outside the White House to convince Trump to nullify the victory of his Democratic foe, Joe Biden, who were opposed by leaders. of the Department of Justice and the lawyers of the White House. .
Olson, whose office is in a Virginia suburb of Washington, joined the legal team of one such outsider, Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow, after Trump left office. Olson did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
A Trump spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Times reported that a person familiar with the work of the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Capitol Hill said the panel was aware of Olson’s memo and was exploring his role in efforts to overturn the vote. 2020.
The panel did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Olson sent his memo 10 days after a heated six-hour White House meeting in which, according to committee testimony from Jan. 6, top aides vied to sway Trump against Lindell, former national security adviser Michael Flynn. and attorney Sidney Powell as they peddled conspiracy theories. about the choice
Although Trump’s aides persuaded him during the meeting to reject a recommendation to order the seizure of voting machines and other measures, Olson’s memo indicated that Trump remained receptive to extreme proposals aimed at keeping him in office.
“While the time to act was short when we spoke on Christmas Day,” Olson wrote to Trump, “time is running out.”
(Reporting by Jonathan Landay; Editing by Leslie Adler)