WASHINGTON (AP) – The unprecedented Republican effort to overthrow the presidential election has been condemned by a flood of current and former Republican officials warning that the effort to sow doubts in Joe Biden’s victory and keep President Donald Trump in office is undermining the Americans’ faith in democracy.
Trump won the support of a dozen Republican senators and up to 100 House Republicans to challenge the Electoral College vote when Congress meets in a joint session to confirm President-elect Joe Biden’s 306-232 victory.
With Biden scheduled to open on January 20, Trump is stepping up efforts to prevent the traditional transfer of power, destroying the party.
Despite Trump’s allegations of electoral fraud, state officials insisted that the elections went smoothly and that there was no evidence of fraud or other problems that would change the outcome. The states certified their results as fair and valid. Of the more than 50 lawsuits that the president and his allies filed challenging the election results, almost all have been dismissed or withdrawn. He also lost twice in the United States Supreme Court.
In a call released on Sunday, Trump can be heard urging Georgia officials to “find” more votes for him.
But some senior lawmakers, including prominent Republicans, are reacting.
“The 2020 election is over,” said a statement on 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.
Senators wrote that further attempts to cast doubts about the election are “contrary to the clearly expressed will of the American people and only serve to undermine Americans’ confidence in the electoral results already determined.”
Republican Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland said: “The scheme by members of Congress to reject certification of the presidential election ridicules 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 doubts about the election “attack the foundations of our republic.”
Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the House’s third Republican, warned in a memo to colleagues that objections to the results of the Electoral College “set an exceptionally dangerous precedent.”
One of the most vocal conservatives in Congress, Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton, said he does not object to counting certified electoral votes on January 6. “I am grateful for what the president has achieved in the past four years, which is why I campaigned vigorously for his re-election. But objecting to certified electoral votes will not give you a second term – it will only encourage those Democrats who want to further erode our voting system. constitutional government ”.
Cotton said he prefers a more thorough investigation of any electoral problems, separate from counting the Electoral College’s certified results.
Other prominent former officials also criticized the continued attack on election results. In a brief article in The Washington Post, the 10 living ex-defense secretaries – half who served Republican presidents – said that “the time to question the results has passed; it is time to formally count the votes of the electoral college, as provided for in the Constitution and the bylaws. “
The unusual challenge for the presidential election, on a scale never seen since the aftermath of the Civil War, has obscured the opening of the new Congress and is about to consume its first days. The Chamber and the Senate will meet on Wednesday in a joint session to accept the vote of the Electoral College, a typically routine process that should now be a protracted struggle.
Trump refuses to budge and pressure is mounting on Vice President Mike Pence to secure victory while presiding over what is typically a ceremonial role in the Congressional session. Trump is drawing crowds to a rally in Washington.
The president tweeted on Sunday against the election count and the Republicans are not on his side.
Biden’s transition spokesman, Mike Gwin, called the senators’ effort a “feat” that will not change the fact that Biden will be sworn in on January 20.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to colleagues that while “there is no doubt” about Biden’s victory, her job now “is to further convince the American people to trust our democratic system”.
The Senate effort was being led by Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., And Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Hawley defended his actions in a long email to colleagues, explaining that his Missouri constituents were “tall and clear” with his belief that Trump’s defeat by Biden was unfair.
“It is my responsibility as a senator to raise concerns,” Hawley wrote late Saturday.
Hawley plans to oppose the Pennsylvania state count. But that state’s Republican senator, Pat Toomey, criticized the attack on Pennsylvania’s electoral system and said the results that pointed Biden as the winner are valid.
The Cruz coalition of 11 Republican senators promises to reject Electoral College counts, unless Congress creates a commission to immediately conduct an audit of election results. They are focusing on the states where Trump has made unfounded allegations of electoral fraud. Congress is unlikely to agree with your demand.
The group, which presented no new evidence of electoral 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. The group’s new senators are Cynthia Lummis from Wyoming, Roger Marshall from Kansas, Bill Hagerty from Tennessee and Tommy Tuberville from Alabama.
The call for a joint session to count the votes of the Electoral College has met objections previously. In 2017, several House Democrats contested Trump’s victory, but Biden, who was then president as vice president, quickly dismissed them to assert Trump’s victory. Protests have rarely approached this level of intensity.
The timing is decisive for the Republican Party in a post-Trump era. Hawley and Cruz are potential candidates for the presidency in 2024, cementing their alignment with the base of Trump supporters. Others are trying to forge a different path for the GOP.
Pence will be carefully watched as he chairs what is expected to be a prolonged confrontation, depending on how many challenges are set up.
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 on Saturday.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell warned Republicans of these challenges, but said little when asked about it on Capitol Hill, when the Senate opened on Sunday.
“We will be dealing with all of this on Wednesday,” he said.
Some Republicans do not plan to join the effort. Senator Lindsey Graham, RS.C., said on Sunday that his colleagues will have the opportunity to present their case, but must present evidence and facts. “They have a high barrier to overcome,” he said.
Congress is reluctant to interfere with state electoral systems. States choose their own electoral officials and draft their electoral laws. During the coronavirus pandemic, many states adapted, allowing postal voting to lessen the health risks of personal voting.