White House: GOP lawmaker’s call for martial law ‘disgusting affront’ to country’s principles

The White House on Wednesday pushed back on newly published texts from Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) that showed him urging the Trump administration to impose martial law in its waning days.

“Plotting against the rule of law and to subvert the will of the people is a disgusting affront to our deepest principles as a country,” deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement. “We all, regardless of party, need to stand up for mainstream values and the Constitution, against dangerous, ultra MAGA conspiracy theories and violent rhetoric.”

Talking Points Memo on Monday published texts from Republican lawmakers that were sent to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in the final days of Trump’s presidency.

One of the messages was from Norman three days prior to President Biden’s inauguration, in which the congressman urged Meadows to encourage Trump to impose martial law — something that he considered “our last hope” in “saving our Republic.”

In a statement to local news outlets on Tuesday, Norman said the text about imposing martial law came from “a source of frustration” about the 2020 election and its use was not warranted.

The Norman texts were published on the heels of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) telling a gala in New York over the weekend that the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection would have been more successful had she and former Trump strategist Stephen Bannon organized it. 

The White House similarly rebuked those comments, calling them a “slap in the face” to law enforcement who responded to the riots that day.