Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who also served as energy secretary under former President Donald Trump, is believed by the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot to have sent a text message containing a “strategy” to undermine the 2020 presidential election.

The news came to light via an exclusive report from CNN. The report states the House committee has not discussed the author of the text message but cites three sources familiar with the investigation.

What You Need To Know

  • Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who also served as energy secretary under former President Donald Trump, on Nov. 4, 2020, sent a text message to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows containing a “strategy” to overturn election results, CNN said in a report citing three sources

  • A spokesperson for Perry has denied the report, thought the phone number from which the text came has been linked to Perry

  • The text message was submitted to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and was part of thousands of documents turned over by Meadows

  • Meadows has since stopped cooperating with the investigation, and last week the House voted to hold him in contempt

The message, the report states, was sent to then-White House chief of Staff Mark Meadows and pushed a plan for three GOP-led state legislatures to ignore election results and hand their electors to Trump.

A spokesperson for Perry denied the allegation in a statement to CNN. CNN claims multiple people have connected the phone number associated with the text message to Perry.

That number, the report states, is registered to a James Rick Perry of Texas, which is Perry’s full name.

CNN further located the phone number in a database registered to the Department of Energy and linked to Perry when he was energy secretary, the report states.

The message was sent Nov. 4, 2020, the day after the election. It was presented on the House floor by Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, and reads, "HERE's an AGRESSIVE (sic) STRATEGY: Why can t (sic) the states of GA NC PENN and other R controlled state houses declare this is BS (where conflicts and election not called that night) and just send their own electors to vote and have it go to the SCOTUS."

Trump ended up winning North Carolina.

The text message was included in thousands of documents Meadows turned over to the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.

The House last week voted to hold Meadows in contempt after he stopped cooperating with the Jan. 6 committee.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.