AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
- An email The Washington Post obtained shows division within the GOP over the 2020 election.
- The Republican National Committee's top lawyer criticized lawsuits disputing the election results.
- Rudy Giuliani retaliated by trying to have the lawyer fired, The Post reported.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
While former President Donald Trump and his allies were falsely claiming voter fraud cost him the election, a top Republican lawyer complained those claims were "getting laughed out of court."
In a November 2020 email obtained by The Washington Post, Justin Riemer, chief counsel at the Republican National Committee, urged a party spokesperson not to amplify the charges being made by Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, who filed dozens of lawsuits seeking to overturn President Joe Biden's victory.
"What Rudy and Jenna are doing is a joke and they are getting laughed out of court," Riemer wrote in the email to the RNC's Liz Harrington. "They are misleading millions of people who have wishful thinking that the president is going to somehow win this thing."
The Post reported Giuliani and other Trump allies tried to have Riemer fired.
In a statement provided to the newspaper, Riemer portrayed his criticism as legalistic. Prior to his role as chief counsel, Riemer worked as a lawyer for the Department of Education under Trump.
"I will say publicly now what I then said privately: I take issue with individuals who brought lawsuits that did not serve President Trump well and did not give him the best chance in court," he said.
The revelation comes as lawyers who sought to overturn the 2020 election are facing potential legal repercussions.
At a hearing on Monday, a federal judge, Linda Parker, said she was concerned that Sidney Powell and L. Lin Wood - pro-Trump conspiracy theorists - had pushed false and "bad faith" claims in court that they had not bothered to research. The lawyers, who sought to nullify President Biden's win in Michigan, face unspecified legal sanctions.