Local Congressman Pete Aguilar in recent days has loomed into national attention as members of his party have been pressing what they believe is an advantage in establishing that former President Donald Trump was directly involved in the effort to subvert democracy early this year by obstructing the certification of the November 2020 election ofhis successor, Joseph Biden.
Aguilar, a Democrat from Redlands, is a member of the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection. It was in the midst of the rioting that took place at the nation’s capital that day that the Senate, presided over by President Trump’s running mate, Mike Spence, was verifying the presidential election outcome, which according to official tallies, Biden had won in the Electoral College 306 to 232. It is alleged that President Trump, in league with other conspirators, sought to have Spence use his position as the Senate’s presiding officer to throw out votes in critical states where President Trump had narrowly edged Biden, such that Trump would be declared the winner.
During a hearing that was widely broadcast on multiple media outlets, Aguilar was seen and heard saying, “On January 3, Mr. Meadows was exchanging text messages with a lawmakers about the pressure campaign to get state legislatures to overturn the results of the election. In one text message to a lawmaker, Mr. Meadows wrote he – he presumably being President Trump – ‘He thinks the legislatures have the power but the VP has power to[o].’ Power to do what? We could guess the power to overturn the election results. The power to reject the will of the voters. And days later, a violent mob tried to get Vice President Pence to do just that. We’d like to ask Mr. Meadows about that.”
Meadows is ducking a subpeona to testify before the committee.
The Sentinel requested Aguilar identify the member of Congress he referenced as exchanging text messages with Meadows. Aguilar declined. The Sentinel has identified that lawmaker as Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio.
Aguilar’s statements were hailed by Democrats and those who have a low opinion of Donald Trump. Meanwhile, Republicans have lodged an ethics complaint against Aguilar and another Democrat on the committee,  Adam Schiff, based on assertions that the text messages Aguilar quoted from had been altered.