- Marjorie Taylor Greene testified on Friday that she didn't recall telling Trump to invoke martial law.
- But newly-revealed text messages between her and Trump's former chief of staff indicate otherwise.
- 'Several' colleagues thought martial law was 'the only way to save our Republic,' MTG wrote before Biden's inaugural.
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia told former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows about the possibility of invoking martial law after January 6, according to newly-released text messages between the two.
CNN reported on Monday that on January 17, three days before the inauguration of President Joe Biden, she told Meadows that several of her Republican colleagues were interested in the idea as a means of keeping former President Donald Trump in power.
"In our private chat with only Members, several are saying the only way to save our Republic is for Trump to call for Marshall (sic) law," she texted Meadows that day. "I don't know on those things. I just wanted you to tell him."
Greene's text to Meadows was among the 2,319 messages obtained by CNN from Election Day 2020 to Biden's inauguration on January 20, 2021.
Meadows did not appear to respond to Greene's text on martial law, according to CNN.
US presidents and Congress have only invoked martial law on a few occasions in American history, most recently in Maryland's Cambridge riot of 1963. The 2007 National Defense Authorization Act passed under then-President George W. Bush allows the president to declare martial law and overtake command of the National Guard without requiring the consent of a state's governor.
Just last Friday, Greene testified under oath that she didn't recall whether she'd raised the idea to Trump.
"They stole this election. We all know. They will destroy our country next," she also texted Meadows. "Please tell him to declassify as much as possible so we can go after Biden and anyone else!"
Nick Dyer, a spokesman for Rep. Greene, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
On Friday, Greene sat for cross-examination by lawyers from Free Speech for the People, a group hoping to kick Greene off of the 2022 congressional ballot in Georgia. The group hopes to disqualify her candidacy under Section 3 of Article 14 of the US Constitution, which states that "no person" who's taken an oath and served as a member of Congress "shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion."
At one point, the group's lawyers asked Greene repeatedly whether she had raised the idea of martial law to Trump, prompting the congresswoman to plead ignorance.
"I don't recall," she said, declining to deny the charge. "I don't remember."
—Acyn (@Acyn) April 22, 2022
Greene gave a similar response to a wide variety of questions about January 6, as well as her past advocacy for political violence against Democrats. At one point, she denied recalling advocating for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's execution, despite being handed a paper print-out of a CNN article documenting her comments.
The texts released by CNN on Monday indicate that Greene did, in fact, advocate the idea.
The administrative judge who oversaw last Friday's hearing is expected to make a decision this week on the question of whether or not Greene qualifies for the ballot, though the final ruling ultimately goes to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger. He's already drawn the ire of Trump for refusing to "find 11,780 votes" after Trump's 2020 election loss in the state.