National Review writer ‘can attest’ to Trump pressing conservatives to say election was ‘stolen’

A National Review journalist says New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman is correct: Former President Trump is asking conservative writers to spread the theory he’ll be reinstated after his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen are proven true.

A number of sources have confirmed that Trump is “trying hard to recruit journalists, politicians, and other influential figures to promulgate this belief,” senior writer C.W. Cooke wrote in a Thursday piece titled “Maggie Haberman Is Right.”

Trump also truly believes that he’ll be reinstated to office after a number of election audits in Arizona and other states are finished, Cooke added.

A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.

Cooke’s story comes a day after Haberman described Trump’s efforts to recruit conservative opinionmakers on the CNN show “New Day.”

“He has been trying to get conservative writers to publish, you know, in a more mainstream way that this election was, quote unquote, stolen from him,” Haberman told host John Berman, without naming any writers.

Haberman had initially tweeted Tuesday that Trump believes he will be reinstated.

Trump has been telling a number of people he’s in contact with that he expects he will get reinstated by August (no that isn’t how it works but simply sharing the information). https://t.co/kaXSXKnpF0

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) June 1, 2021

Like many after hearing that idea, Cooke pointed out in his piece that there is no constitutional mechanism that would allow that to happen.

“[Reinstatement] is a rejection of reality, a rejection of law, and, ultimately, a rejection of the entire system of American government,” he wrote.

“There is no Reinstatement Clause within the United States Constitution. Hell, there is nothing even approximating a Reinstatement Clause within the United States Constitution.”

Jay Caruso, managing editor of the Washington Examiner magazine, agreed with Cooke’s assessment. 

“It’s a wild-eyed fantasy,” Caruso said. “There is no constitutional mechanism for reinstatement for a president. The election was certified and Biden was sworn in. It’s not like Trump was unjustly fired from the workplace and found to have done no wrong.”

The National Review has called out Trump for his behavior since losing the 2020 election to President Biden, with its editorial board saying his challenges are “disgraceful” and that “almost nothing that the Trump team has alleged has withstood the slightest scrutiny.”