All 10 living ex-defense secretaries, including Dick Cheney and James Mattis, warned that involving the U.S. military in electoral disputes would take the country into “dangerous” territory, in a Washington Post article on Sunday.
Why it matters: The secretaries’ insistence that “the time to question the results” of the 2020 elections has passed is when an increasing number of Republican senators join Republicans in the House in their plans to object to certifying Joe Biden’s victory at the Electoral College.
What are they saying: “Our elections took place. Recounts and audits were carried out. Appropriate challenges were resolved by the courts. The governors certified the results. And the electoral college voted, “wrote the former defense secretaries.
- “The time for questioning the results has passed; the time has come for the formal counting of votes from the electoral college, as provided for in the Constitution and the bylaws.”
- The article also calls for the Department of Defense to carry out a peaceful, transparent and cooperative transition within its own agency and “refrain from any political actions that harm the results of the elections or hinder the success of the new team”.