Wyoming Republican House Speaker Liz Cheney directly denounced the efforts of several Republican lawmakers to oppose the Electoral College’s certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory on Wednesday. She warned of a “dangerous” precedent in which the inauguration is postponed, leaving the United States with an interim president.
A coalition of 11 elected Republican senators and senators announced on Saturday that they will challenge Congress to certify Biden’s victory on Wednesday unless an audit of the results is conducted. The group, led by Ted Cruz from Texas, said it would “reject voters from disputed states as not ‘regularly given’ and ‘legally certified’ … unless and until the 10-day emergency audit is completed.”
In a 21-page memo sent to his Republican colleagues on Sunday, Cheney, the third Republican leader in the House, said the group’s actions would set an “exceptionally dangerous precedent” and called the commission’s idea “even more problematic.”
“In opposing the electoral plates, members are inevitably claiming that Congress has the authority to override elections and override state and federal courts,” she said. “This is in direct conflict with the clear text of the Constitution and our fundamental beliefs as Republicans.”
Drew Angerer / Getty
In addition to Cruz, the group includes Ron Johnson, from Wisconsin; James Lankford of Oklahoma; Steve Daines of Montana; John Kennedy of Louisiana; Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee; and Mike Braun from Indiana. Elected senators Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Roger Marshall of Kansas; Bill Hagerty of Tennessee; and Cynthia Lummis, from Wyoming, are also part of the movement.
The group demanded the creation of an Electoral Commission to conduct an investigation into the results of the presidential elections in disputed states, which voted for Biden. “Once completed, individual states would evaluate the Commission’s findings and could convene a special legislative session to certify a change in their vote, if necessary,” said the coalition.
Cheney strongly criticized the idea, saying that “it is unreasonable to foresee that any commission so formed can finish its work in 10 days”.
“Did the proponents of a new commission realize that, in essence, they proposed to postpone the opening?” she asked. “Did they intend to set a new future precedent in which investiture is postponed and we have an ‘interim president’?”
“For how long? Who decides when this process ends? Will another Congressional Act be needed? Could the incumbent president veto any future Congressional action?”
Cheney concluded that Republicans who plan to oppose Biden’s victory certification “must be prepared to answer how such a commission would be justified by the actual text of our founding documents”.
NEWS -> I got the House GOP Conference Chair memo @Liz_Cheney sent to his colleagues on: January 6 election objections. She says the actions proposed by some Republicans would set an “exceptionally dangerous precedent”, calling the commission’s idea “even more problematic.” pic.twitter.com/qy0cTySNqP
– Guy Benson (@guypbenson) January 3, 2021
Newsweek contacted Cruz’s office for comment.