She said members of Congress involved in the discussions included Mr. Jordan; Mr. Perry; Representatives Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar and Debbie Lesko of Arizona; Representative Mo Brooks of Alabama; Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida; Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Jody Hice of Georgia; Representative Louie Gohmert of Texas; and Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado. (Ultimately, 147 congressional Republicans voted to object to Mr. Biden’s victory in at least one state.)
“They felt that he had the authority to — pardon me if my phrasing isn’t correct on this, but — send votes back to the states or the electors back to the states,” Ms. Hutchinson testified, adding that they had appeared to embrace a plan promoted by the conservative lawyer John Eastman that members of both parties have likened to a blueprint for a coup.
Capitol Riot’s Aftermath: Key Developments
Card 1 of 5Signs of progress. The federal investigation into the Jan. 6 attack appears to be gaining momentum. The Justice Department has brought in a well-regarded new prosecutor to help run the inquiry, while a high-profile witness — the far-right broadcaster Alex Jones — is seeking an immunity deal to provide information.
Weighing changes to the Insurrection Act. Some lawmakers on the Jan. 6 House committee have begun discussions about rewriting the Insurrection Act in response to the events that led to the Capitol riot. The law currently gives presidents the authority to deploy the military to respond to a rebellion, and some fear it could be abused by a president trying to stoke one.
Debating a criminal referral. The House panel has grown divided over whether to make a criminal referral of former President Donald J. Trump to the Justice Department, even though it has concluded that it has enough evidence to do so. The debate centers on whether a referral would backfire by politically tainting the expanding federal investigation.
Continuing election doubts. More than a year after they tried and failed to use Congress’s final count of electoral votes on Jan. 6 to overturn the election, some Trump allies are pushing bogus legal theories about “decertifying” the 2020 vote and continuing to fuel a false narrative that has resonated with Mr. Trump’s supporters.
Cooperating with investigators. Pat A. Cipollone and Patrick F. Philbi, two of Mr. Trump’s top White House lawyers, met with the Jan. 6 House committee, while Ali Alexander, a prominent organizer of pro-Trump events after the 2020 election, said he would assist in the federal investigation.
Ms. Hutchinson suggested that White House lawyers had found the plan was not “legally sound” but that Mr. Meadows allowed it to move forward nonetheless.
The committee’s filing also contained an email revealing that a pro-Trump lawyer named Cleta Mitchell also played a role in promoting the alternate elector scheme.
The email, which Ms. Mitchell sent to Mr. Meadows on Dec. 6, 2020, contains a list of “key points” about the plan, noting, for example, that the “US Constitution gives the authority to state legislatures to appoint presidential electors.”
Ms. Mitchell had sent a version of the email one day earlier to Senator Mike Braun, Republican of Indiana, in advance of the senator appearing on television. When Ms. Mitchell forwarded the email to Mr. Meadows, she wrote, “This is what I prepared and sent to Sen Braun last night to help prepare him for ABC appearance this am. Can the WH press office get and start using??”