DENVER — Colorado U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert met with then-President Donald Trump’s White House officials before the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, while they discussed what options the vice president had when faced with certifying the 2020 election, a high-level aide said.
That aide, Cassidy Hutchinson, worked for Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows and spoke to the Congressional Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in February and March.
Hutchinson told committee members that she recalled several meetings in which Meadows and those participating “had come in prepared with information about ways that they think the vice president could approach certifying the Electoral College votes,” court filings show.
In those early meetings, some posed the idea of then-Vice President Mike Pence stalling the certification of the 2020 election results or delaying the inauguration to “assert that Mr. Trump had actually won.”
He didn’t. Claims that the election was stolen in favor of President Joe Biden have been widely debunked, though some Republicans continue to spread the lie.
When committee members asked Hutchinson who had been involved in the meetings she mentioned Boebert alongside U.S. Reps. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Jim Jordan of Ohio and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
She also mentioned Rudy Giuliani, who worked as legal counsel for Trump and a “Ms. Ellis,” who appears to be Jenna Ellis, of Colorado, who also worked as a legal adviser for the Trump campaign and a high-profile activist calling the election results into question.
Neither Boebert nor Ellis responded to a request for comment.
“I just remember general — general correspondence of vice president may be able to do this,” she said. “We should look into this. We should explore these ideas. But nothing more specific than that.”
Some of those conversations, though, also surrounded concerns that the Jan. 6 rally could turn violent.
Among those voicing concerns was conservative commentator Sean Hannity who, court documents show, texted Meadows on Jan. 5 that he was “very worried about the next 48 hours.”
Ultimately the rally did turn violent, the crowd stormed the Capitol and four people in the crowd were killed.
Boebert’s involvement with the riot has been a matter of some debate since then. She declared on Twitter the morning of the insurrection that it was “1776.” She also led a tour ahead of the insurrection, but strongly denied claims that it was a reconnaissance tour for rioters, instead saying she was showing family members around the Capitol.
“Let me be clear. I had no role in the planning or execution of any event that took place at the Capitol or anywhere in Washington, D.C., on January 6th,” Boebert previously said in a news release.
In the available court documents, Hutchinson did not specify further on their participation in the conversations, nor did she recall specific actions that were discussed.
Another person with connections to Colorado, John Eastman, a former University of Colorado visiting scholar, also has ties to the Capitol riot. The House select committee subpoenaed Eastman in November, citing “credible evidence” that he knew of and perhaps participated in attempts to encourage Pence to overturn the election results.
During her conversation with the committee, Hutchinson confirmed that Eastman said Pence would have the authority to delay certification and send votes back to the states.
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