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The extraordinary Republican effort to overturn the presidential election was condemned Sunday by an outpouring of current and former GOP officials warning the effort to sow doubt in Joe Biden’s win and keep President Donald Trump in office is undermining Americans’ faith in democracy.
Trump has enlisted support from a dozen Republican senators and up to 100 House Republicans to challenge the Electoral College vote when Congress convenes in a joint session to confirm President-elect Joe Biden’s 306-232 win.
With Biden set to be inaugurated Jan. 20, Trump is intensifying efforts to prevent the traditional transfer of power.
Despite Trump’s claims of voter fraud, state officials have insisted the elections ran smoothly and there was no evidence of fraud or other problems that would change the outcome. The states have certified their results as fair and valid. Of the more than 50 lawsuits the president and his allies have filed challenging election results, nearly all have been dismissed or dropped. He’s also lost twice at the U.S. Supreme Court.
On a call disclosed Sunday, Trump can be heard pressuring Georgia officials to “find” him more votes.
“The 2020 election is over,” said a statement Sunday from a bipartisan group of 10 senators, including Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Mitt Romney of Utah.
The senators wrote that further attempts to cast doubt on the election are “contrary to the clearly expressed will of the American people and only serve to undermine Americans’ confidence in the already determined election results.”
Republican Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland said, “The scheme by members of Congress to reject the certification of the presidential election makes a mockery of our system and who we are as Americans.”
Former House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, said in a statement that “Biden’s victory is entirely legitimate” and that efforts to sow doubt about the election “strike at the foundation of our republic.”
Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third-ranking House Republican, warned in a memo to colleagues that objections to the Electoral College results “set an exceptionally dangerous precedent.”
One of the more outspoken conservatives in Congress, Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, said he will not oppose the counting of certified electoral votes on Jan. 6. “I’m grateful for what the president accomplished over the past four years, which is why I campaigned vigorously for his reelection. But objecting to certified electoral votes won’t give him a second term—it will only embolden those Democrats who want to erode further our system of constitutional government.”
Cotton said he favors further investigation of any election problems, separate from the counting of the certified Electoral College results.
Other prominent former officials also criticized the ongoing attack on election results. In a brief op-ed in The Washington Post, the 10 living former defense secretaries—half of them having served Republican presidents—called on Pentagon officials to carry out the transition to the new administration “fully, cooperatively and transparently.” They also asserted that efforts to involve the U.S. armed forces in resolving election disputes “would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory.”
Citing election results, legal challenges, state certifications and the Electoral College vote, the former defense secretaries said that “the time for questioning the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the electoral college votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived.”
The unusual challenge to the presidential election, on a scale unseen since the aftermath of the Civil War, clouded the opening of the new Congress and is set to consume its first days. The House and Senate will meet Wednesday in a joint session to accept the Electoral College vote, a typically routine process that’s now expected to be a prolonged fight.
Trump is refusing to concede, and pressure is mounting on Vice President Mike Pence to ensure victory while presiding in what is typically a ceremonial role over the congressional session. Trump is whipping up crowds for a rally in Washington.
The president tweeted Sunday against the election tallies and Republicans not on his side.
Biden’s transition spokesman, Mike Gwin, dismissed the senators’ effort as a “stunt” that won’t change the fact that Biden will be sworn in Jan. 20.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to colleagues that while there is “no doubt” of Biden’s victory, their job now “is to convince more of the American people to trust in our democratic system.”
The effort in the Senate was being led by Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Hawley defended his actions in a lengthy email to colleagues, explaining that his Missouri constituents have been “loud and clear” with their belief that Biden’s defeat of Trump was unfair.
“It is my responsibility as a senator to raise their concerns,” Hawley wrote late Saturday.
Hawley plans to object to the state tally from Pennsylvania. But that state’s Republican senator, Pat Toomey, criticized the attack on Pennsylvania’s election system and said the results that named Biden the winner are valid.
Cruz’s coalition of 11 Republican senators vows to reject the Electoral College tallies unless Congress launches a commission to immediately conduct an audit of the election results. They are zeroing in on the states where Trump has raised unfounded claims of voter fraud. Congress is unlikely to agree to their demand.
The group formed with Cruz, which presented no new evidence of election problems, includes Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Steve Daines of Montana, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Mike Braun of Indiana. New senators in the group are Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.
The convening of the joint session to count the Electoral College votes has faced objections before. In 2017, several House Democrats challenged Trump’s win but Biden, who presided at the time as the vice president, swiftly dismissed them to assert Trump’s victory. Rarely have the protests approached this level of intensity.
The moment is a defining one for the Republican Party in a post-Trump era. Both Hawley and Cruz are potential 2024 presidential contenders, cementing their alignment with Trump’s base of supporters. Others are trying to forge a different path for the GOP.
Pence will be carefully watched as he presides over what is expected to be a prolonged showdown, depending on how many challenges are mounted.
The vice president “welcomes the efforts of members of the House and Senate to use the authority they have under the law to raise objections,” Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, said in a statement Saturday.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has warned Republicans off such challenges but said little when asked about it as at the Capitol as the Senate opened Sunday.
“We’ll be dealing with all of that on Wednesday,” he said.
But Republicans simply said they do not plan to join the effort that will fail.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Sunday his colleagues will have an opportunity to make their case, but they must produce evidence and facts. “They have a high bar to clear,” he said.
Congress have been loathe to interfere in the state-run election systems, a longstanding protocol. States choose their own election officials and draft their election laws. During the coronavirus pandemic many states adapted by allowing mail voting to ease health risks of voting in person. Those changes and others are now being challenged by Trump and his allies.
Trump, the first president to lose a reelection bid in almost 30 years, has attributed his defeat to widespread voter fraud, despite the consensus of nonpartisan election officials and even Trump’s attorney general that there was none.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the latest challenge from Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, and a group of Arizona electors, who filed suit to try to force Pence to step outside mere ceremony and shape the outcome of the vote. The appellate court sided with the federal judge, a Trump appointee, who dismissed the suit.
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Trump corruption seems to never end.
Sickened that Mike Braun, representing Indiana, has signed on to this circus….
In 8 years that seat has gone from Lugar to Donnelly to Braun. Talk about a series of downgrades. At least Mourdock didn’t hold the office.
Speaking of Indiana senators, has Todd Young emerged from his hiding place to remind us all he’s a Marine lately?
And Indiana Senator Mike Braun is violating his oath of office by engaging in an act of sedition against his country
Vowing to use “sedition” in a conversational sentence today.
I’m pleased that Senator Braun has the integrity to question the fradulaent vote “reporting” done in the precints questioned. If the frauds who are Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are inaugurated, not only will the country suffer all but irrepairable damage from their stupid, America-hating activities, but so will the very integrity of the election process. Congratulations to Mike Braun and the others to swim against the swamp’s tide; that’s why Trump was elected in the first place…and why, if all voting had been done in accordance with election law,
Trump would have been elected again….probably by a wider margin than in 2016. After all, a sitting President does not pick up
10,000,000 votes nationwide after four years of relentless main street media and well-financed left-wing attacks and gross misinformation if he hasn’t been doing something right….and for all his faults, Trump has been quietly doing just that.
So much time spent. Meticulous grammatical editing. Unbelievably subjective( “probably” lol ). Writes like a bad Stephen Miller crime novella.
Congrats to Sen. Braun for standing up to uphold the Constitution. The very foundation of our country is being threatened by fraud. Thanks to President Trump for not rolling over to a broken political system and media that allows this cheating to take place at all levels of the current election process!
lol he definitely rolled over on Covid. Stealing elections wayyyyy more fun than being president.
I agree – the fraud that Trump and his supporters are creating threatens the foundations of our country. They should be charged with sedition.
Right on, Jeffrey.
If someone cheats in a presidential election, and the other side protests, will the media ever inquire or investigate? Or will it always be dismissed as extraordinary?
throwin around the “cheat” term pretty loosely here, no?
IBJ comments section showing just how brutal it is to be a DJT supporter. The “GET OFF MY LAWN” crowd suddenly shows up to hold water for the guy- no joke- asking for votes on a recorded line. smh
When your feelings matter more than the facts, you can believe whatever you want.
I mean, Georgia counted their ballots three times. It’s simple – Trump lost.
The only way in which the fraud allegations are unprecedented are the volume of them and the people who know better who repeat them to keep their base voters happy. But, oddly enough, when the lawyers go to a court of law, they don’t allege fraud. Maybe that’s because they’d be risking losing their law licenses if they bring up total nonsense.
Mike Braun is a joke and I regret ever voting for him. He will not be receiving a vote from me in the future, nor will any other Trumplican. After a number of recounts and signature verification in swing states, it is beyond obvious who won. Only people brainwashed by Newsmax, whose CEO will tell you Trunp’s nonsense is good for business, and OANN, which is staffed by Russian state media members, think that the election is still in question. Donald Trump is the biggest joke of a president we’ve ever had.
Wow, your unbiased reporting is something of the past IBJ. Unfortunately for everyone ready your stories has to pay for your biases. What a shame. Wish you would grow up and do a job as a journalist not a commentator.
Only the President of the United States is so lucky to have people filter all the “bad” news away from them.
The rest of us have to be engaged adults and figure out what’s nonsense and what might just be facts that challenge our biases and beliefs. It’s hard but it’s our civic duty as American citizens.
Or, you just count on what Facebook, Fox, Newsmax, and/or OANN shovel in front of you and attack everything else as “biased, fake news” and be blissfully unaware of what reality is.
Dear Bank – I just want to find 11,780 more dollars in my account. Everyone at your bank counted wrong…..
Jan 20, 2021 – The end of an ERROR.
So many victims of fake news on Facebook and a narcissistic President here. I hope someday Trump supporters can come back to reality. It’s truly depressing seeing nearly half of this country in a delusional state of mind. I’m not even saying people are crazy for voting for Trump. What’s crazy is their lack of ability to see reality. He lost and is now trying to steal an election. He’s literally caught on tape doing so. Social media companies will eventually need to be held accountable for the downfall of Western society.
I get the people who didn’t like Hillary (I don’t like Hillary). I get the people who figured “Hey, what’s the worst that could happen?”
But over the last four years, very few people changed their minds. Enough to change the outcome of the election (along with increased turnout), but there are a whole lot of people who wanted four more years of corruption and four more years of incompetence.
The only thing I can figure is that people hate what America and want it destroyed.
Quote: Social media companies will eventually need to be held accountable for the downfall of Western society.
On that we can agree, Wesley! Now, since virtually all social media platforms censor right-of-center material, favoring whatever the left puts out, how can you be a leftist and acknowledge that those social media companies will bring down Western society…they’re on your side through and through! (Or is this a different Wesley than he who customarily vilifies anyone who doesn’t worship phonies like Biden and Harris and those of us who refuse to take as gospel whatever appears in The New York Times or The Washington Post?)
Well Bob, it’s the same Wesley, but I’ve never vilified anyone for not worshipping Joe Biden. I certainly don’t worship any politician, unlike most Trump supporters. The only right-wing things Facebook censored (when I was on last in August) were people threatening violence and propping up hate speech. If that’s what you call “right of center”, then we have very different views on what the political center is. I thought Richard Lugar and Mitch Daniels were right of center, or centrists. I don’t subscribe to the NYT or WaPo, but sometimes read their stories. Please don’t try to compare organizations like that to Newsmax or OAN though. They aren’t comparable whatsoever, as the prior two actually have credibility and give people facts. If you want to read the op-eds, sure, they’re both very liberal. If you read the actual news stories, they are almost always completely factual. For someone who wants social media held accountable for the destruction of this country, you should probably get off it and stop contributing to their profits that they pay no taxes on. At least I assume you’re on the platforms, given your lack of a grasp on reality in your comments here.
Wesley, if you understood the problem many Trump supporters have with the election, you’d be better off. To wit: I did not like Barack Hussein Obama Jr. and knew he was a racist fraud from the get-go, but I never questioned the fact that he was elected legitimately. Never. I hate to admit that he fooled as many people as he did, but he did.
This is not true of the Biden “election.” There are far too many metrics and legitimate accounts of documented voter fraud in specific precincts (no, there was not “massive voter fraud;” it wasn’t needed) to ever acknowledge that this was a legitimate Presidential election. Undoubtedly, it was not the first one of that nature and, sadly, it probably won’t be the last, but that’s the issue with at least some percentage of Trump supporters (myself among them); the integrity of the process as much as the outcome.
Bob P – the only real problem Trump supporters have with this election is that Trump lost, which makes him a loser. Curious why you think it’s necessary to use Obama’s middle name? I’ll be “praying” that you can kick your kool-aid addiction come Jan 20 when dignity is restored to the Oval Office.
Bob, you accusing Obama of being a racist seems like projection to me. Yes, that means I am accusing you of likely being a racist. There are almost no accounts of actual voter fraud in this election. The only reason any instances of fraud were even found is because a sore loser decided to investigate mostly majority minority precincts, and claim widespread fraud when 2 ballots out of millions are invalid. He’s literally trying to rob Black people of their votes. If they had investigated Martinsville, for example, you’d likely also find invalid ballots. Either way, every invalid ballot that was recounted has now been found, and the election is over. I hope you come back to reality some day, for your own sake.
Bob, had there been any actual election fraud, it would have been introduced into the court system as evidence. The facts do not support your view of the world.
The “fraud”, in the mind of Trump voters, is that “other” people are voting and they’re threatening how things have been done a long time. “Those people” should know their place and it’s not having a say in how the “real” Americans want to do things. Their votes aren’t “valid”.
The Trump movement is the reaction to the election of a black man as President. Some people just can’t handle such a thing. They have to make things up, like say “he’s a Muslim” or “he wasn’t born in America”. That’s the issue Republicans have with social media … they won’t let them spread the lies that are their very oxygen. They can’t win running on facts and the truth.
And the Republicans see the demographic numbers. They’ve lost the next generation, they know it. They have to figure out how to make sure only their voters vote, and make it hard for anyone holding a job to vote. Look at how the Marion County GOP has fought voting centers. That’s intentional. It’s all about minimizing the voters in urban centers (where “those people” have all the economic activity) so that the folks in rural areas (where “real people” live, and the younger people are fleeing) can keep running things.
And now, Trump is screwing it up for them because the way he goes about it makes it all so blindingly obvious. Whoever runs in 2024 will be trying to do the same thing, but not be such a loudmouth about it.
All of the Congressman voting to reject the Electoral College votes on Wednesday should be expelled from the Senate and House. They have willingly committed sedition and are intentionally disrupting the peaceful transfer of power. The Republican Party can either choose America and lead the charge to expel them, or they can remain an organization unfit for further participation in American democracy.
The markets sunk today due to Trump’s continued petulance……
It is truly sad to see what is being said and how wide the gulf is that separates us politically, and I am resigned to the fact that there is not near enough middle ground anymore. What a shame. I love this country and am very unhappy with the massive corruption, misinformation, out and out deceit by the media, and the power and impact of the leftists to do whatever is necessary to change the very foundations of our government and culture. God help us.
LOL! middle ground is only reached by both sides approaching it Joe……
Let’s hope HE does, Joe.
Joe, I’m sorry that you’ve exited reality. I hope someday you can trust news sources like IBJ again.