In a video posted on YouTube on Thursday, Illinois Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger addressed the prevalence of conspiracy theories in U.S. politics while debunking some of President Donald Trump’s allegations of electoral fraud.
Trump refused to grant November election to President-elect Joe Biden, claiming unreasonably that the electoral fraud perpetrated by Democrats gave Biden victory. Trump and members of his legal team claimed that the voting machines distributed by Dominion Voting Systems were programmed to turn Trump’s votes to Biden.
While most of Trump’s legal efforts to overturn election results have failed, some House Republicans have declared that they plan to oppose the results of the Electoral College during the official counting of Congressional votes on Wednesday. Kinzinger said in the video that the challenges were based on misinformation.
“The president does not want to admit defeat and nobody would, but he is currently trying to discredit the election results through falsehoods and conspiracies,” said Kinzinger. “As someone in charge of leading, I have a choice. I can be quiet and I can survive by taking the easy path or I can talk and lead without worrying about the consequences. I choose to lead without fear.”
“As civil servants, we have a responsibility to serve in good faith,” added Kinzinger. “Pretending to be false is dangerously irresponsible – and it’s just wrong.”
One of the claims made by Trump’s legal teams was that the Dominion voting machines in Michigan counted votes for Trump as votes for Biden. Kinzinger said these claims were false.
“There was an error, but it was a human error, not a Dominion problem, and it was fixed,” said Kinzinger.
Republicans who plan to challenge the Electoral College vote are basing their actions on conspiracy theories, an effort that Kinzinger said “will not succeed and we all know that”.
Kevin Dietsch / Pool / AFP / Getty
Alabama Republican representative Mo Brooks said in December that he would contest the Electoral College count because some battlefield states used “flawed electoral systems” in the November election. More Republican Party officials said they would follow Brooks’ example by opposing the count.
Brooks said on Monday that Kinzinger did not have all the facts.
“If he did his homework,” Brooks said of Kinzinger in Monday’s episode Fox and friends, “he would understand that the evidence is overwhelming. He can surrender to the people who support electoral fraud, electoral theft, or he can fight for his country on this specific issue.”
Kinzinger responded on social media, writing that the only thing he was “surrendering to is the constitution and the will of the people”.
To file a formal challenge to the count, both a member of the House and a member of the Senate must sign the objection. On Wednesday, Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley announced that he would join members of the House who decide to challenge the counting of electoral votes in Congress.
“Someone has to get up here,” Hawley told Fox News on Wednesday. “You have 74 million Americans who feel deprived of their rights, who think their vote doesn’t matter, and this is the only opportunity I have as a United States senator, this process right here, my only opportunity to stand up and say something , and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. “
Newsweek contacted Hawley’s office for comment.
All 50 states have certified their electoral votes. Biden obtained 306 votes at the Electoral College, more than the 270 electoral votes needed to be considered the winner of the presidential election.