Page:Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.pdf/312

 Leader Kim Ward issued a three-page single-spaced joint statement asserting, in no uncertain terms, that Pennsylvania's General Assembly "lacks the authority … to overturn the popular vote and appoint our own slate of electors," since "[d]oing so would violate our Election Code and Constitution, particularly a provision that prohibits us from changing the rules for election contests of the President after the election." In response, President Trump retweeted a December 4th post by Bernard Kerik, which tagged all four of these State legislators with the hashtag "Traitors," and declared that "These are the four cowardice[sic] Pennsylvania legislators that intend to allow the Democrat machine to #StealtheVote! #Cowards #Liars #Traitors."

But five days later, President Trump publicly thanked Cutler for signing onto a December 4th letter that encouraged Members of Congress from Pennsylvania to object to their State's electoral votes on January 6th. The President tweeted: "Thank you to Speaker Cutler and all others in Pennsylvania and elsewhere who fully understand what went on in the 2020 election. It's called total corruption!" When the Select Committee asked Cutler about this apparent change in his position, he said that he signed on to this letter not because of concerns that fraud or corruption meant the results of the election Pennsylvania were wrong, but rather because of concerns about "programmatic changes or areas for improvement" related to the election. In fact, Cutler reiterated to the Committee that he "was not personally aware of" any widespread election fraud that would have changed the result of the election.

The pressure facing State legislators during this period was significant. On December 9th, the New York Times quoted Pennsylvania's Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, revealing that she too had received a call from President Trump in which he pushed his election fraud narrative. Ward told the Times that she hadn't been given enough time to sign the same December 4th letter that Cutler did, but commented that if she had taken a stand against it, "I'd get my house bombed tonight."

Arizona. In late November, Arizona House Speaker Russell "Rusty" Bowers, a longtime Republican who served 17 years in the State legislature, received a call from President Trump and Giuliani. Giuliani alleged that Arizona's election results were skewed by illicit ballots, cast by non-citizens or on behalf of dead people. Bowers demanded proof for these audacious claims on the call and President Trump told Giuliani to comply, but the evidence never came. The point of the call, however, was different. Like in Michigan and Pennsylvania, President Trump and his allies were working the phones to get something. They wanted Bowers to hold a public hearing