(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . TX-Sen: MSNBC's Ari Melber Releases New Audio Busting Lyin' Ted (R) Scheming To Steal 2020 Election [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-25 Ari Meiber for the win! x NEW AUDIO: Ted Cruz plotted to steal the election before Jan. 6. pic.twitter.com/Byq4s706DZ — The Beat with Ari Melber 📺 (@TheBeatWithAri) April 25, 2023 MSNBC aired more damning whistleblower audio of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) Tuesday, this time dissecting a tape that appears to feature him plotting to overthrow the 2020 election—well before the events of Jan. 6. The revelations come courtesy of Fox whistleblower Abby Grossberg, who provided the tapes to MSNBC host Ari Melber. According to the files, Cruz reportedly tried to sell his plan to Fox host and Trump ally Maria Bartiromo on Jan. 2—four days before the Capitol riot—pitching a scheme to overthrow the 2020 election by blocking the certification of Joe Biden’s win on Jan. 6, then establishing a commission to investigate the nonexistent claims of fraud which would ultimately “decide” who to inaugurate. “As we were looking at this Jan. 6 certification, all of the options that were being discussed were problematic,” Cruz explains. x NEW: Ted Cruz caught on tape pushing fake "commission" to steal the 2020 election. pic.twitter.com/nY39aYfGJL — The Beat with Ari Melber 📺 (@TheBeatWithAri) April 25, 2023 “And so I wanted to find a path that was consistent with the Constitution and the law, and that address these very real serious claims.” Airing the audio, Melber explains that when Bartiromo asks Cruz who would eventually decide who gets inaugurated under his plan, “Cruz answers that this fake, made up, so-called commission that he and his Trump buddies were planning to try to create to bureaucratize a coup—and that’s what they were trying to do—that was his answer, that’s how they would steal this race.” Here’s some more info: Cruz was the first senator to object to the electoral college results, joining Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) in challenging Arizona’s electoral certification. Cruz says in the recorded conversation that he successfully organized 11 senators to object to the electoral certification as the mechanism to establish a commission. The Post has previously reported on Cruz’s proposal of delaying the certification of the electoral college results to spark a 10-day “audit” that could enable GOP state legislatures to overturn the election results. But the recording sheds new light on the scope of Cruz’s scheming to assist Trump in overturning Biden’s victory. “You need an adjudicatory body with fact-finding and investigative authority to consider the facts to examine the record and to make determinations — that’s how they did it in 1877,” Cruz said referencing the commission created to investigate voter fraud in the 1876 Hayes-Tilden election. Cruz added that he would have rather seen “these facts developed in a court of law,” but goes on to cast doubt on the Supreme Court’s ultimate determination to reject the lawsuits filed to challenge the election Trump had lost. “Unfortunately the courts that heard these cases — we did not have a full and thorough consideration,” said Cruz. By the way, while Texas voters aren’t thrilled about a Biden vs Trump rematch, it could still be bad news for Cruz: But the president heads into 2024 with a lot of ground to make up with Texas voters, 43 percent of whom had a very unfavorable view of Biden in the latest polling by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin. And former President Donald Trump, who has dominated polling in the GOP primary, is just as unpopular in Texas, with 42 percent saying he is very unfavorable. Sixty-one percent of Texas voters, meanwhile, said Biden should not run, while 58 percent said the same of Trump, according to the poll, which was released in February. Still, Biden fared better in Texas in 2020 than any Democratic presidential candidate in years, losing the state to Trump by just 6 percentage points. Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said in a statement he was "ecstatic" about Biden's re-election bid. "With these Republicans working day and night to strip rights from and make life harder for the average working Texan, it’ll be real solace knowing we still have a champion in the White House who’s fighting for the freedom and well-being of everyday families in communities from Amarillo to Zapata," he said. "We look forward to working like hell to ensure he has four more years in the White House fighting for hardworking Texas families." Biden likely got a boost in 2020 from independent voters who had a very negative view of Trump. They now have a worse impression of Biden, with 54 percent of independents seeing him as very unfavorable, compared to 42 percent who said the same of Trump. While few think Biden will actually win the state in 2024, whether or not he can improve on his past performance largely depends on who else is on the top of the ticket, said Joshua Blank, research director at the Texas Politics Project. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who narrowly won re-election over Democrat Beto O'Rourke in 2018 and faces a 46 percent disapproval rate in the state, is also seeking re-election. His campaign could have an impact, depending on the quality of the Democratic candidate challenging Cruz, who would likely be the primary focus of Democratic effort in Texas, Blank said. "I think a fair case could be made that GOP congressional and Texas legislative candidates might perform better with someone besides Trump and Cruz leading the ticket," Blank said. "Biden might find Texas a greater challenge facing a GOP candidate other than Trump who doesn't carry the same baggage as the former president — and someone who he hasn't already beaten, at least nationally." All we need is a strong candidate, which we might just get: San Antonio Democrat Sen. Roland Gutierrez, who has made his way into the national spotlight for his advocacy on behalf of families who lost loved ones in the Uvalde school massacre, is likely to run for higher office according to a source close to the state senator. One source who works with Gutierrez confirmed to Nexstar on Thursday that the Democrat is considering challenging Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in 2024. Gutierrez will continue weighing his options and won’t make a formal announcement about the race until the current legislative session is completed at the end of May. The San Antonio Express-News first reported Wednesday morning that Gutierrez is “nearly certain” to run. Gutierrez and one of his Texas Senate staffers declined to comment on the matter. The source close to the senator asked to not be named due to not being authorized to publicly talk about Gutierrez’s considerations. The San Antonio Democrat has dedicated this legislation to the survivors and victims of the Robb Elementary School shooting — which killed 19 children and two teachers and was stained by an uncoordinated law enforcement response in which officers waited more than an hour to breach the classroom and take down the gunman. The May 2022 massacre happened in Gutierrez’s district. Stay tuned. In the mean time, click here to donate and get involved with the Texas Democratic Party. 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