He added: “The president and his allies are playing with fire. They have been asking – first the courts, then the state legislatures, now the Congress – to overturn the results of a presidential election. They have unsuccessfully summoned the judges and are now urging federal office holders to invalidate millions and millions of votes. If you make big claims, you better have the evidence. But the president has neither the institutional arson members of Congress who will oppose the Electoral College vote. “
“When we spoke privately, I didn’t hear a single Congressional Republican claim that the election results were fraudulent – none,” wrote Sasse. “Instead, I hear them talk about their concerns about how they are going to ‘look’ to President Trump’s most fervent supporters.”
Hawley is the first senator to announce plans to object to the results, which is significant because both a member of the House and the senator are required to raise an objection when Congress counts the votes of the Electoral College on January 6.
The objection will not change the outcome of the election and will only delay the inevitable assertion of Biden’s victory in November over Trump. Democrats will reject any objection in the House, and several Republican senators have argued against an objection that will provide a platform for Trump’s baseless conspiracy theories, claiming the election was stolen from him.
In his Facebook post, Sasse attacked Trump’s conspiracies – resorting to lawsuits failed by the Trump campaign in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Wisconsin and Georgia – and wrote that the president’s attempts at lawsuits were a “fundraising strategy.” funds”.
“This is not serious governance. It is swampy politics – and shows very little respect for the sincere people in my state who are writing these checks, ”wrote Sasse.
Sasse ended his long explanation with a discussion of the responsibility he feels for protecting American institutions at this time.
“Let’s make it clear what’s going on here: we have a lot of ambitious politicians who think there is a quick way to get in touch with the president’s populist base without doing any real damage in the long run. But they are wrong – and that question is greater than anyone’s personal ambitions, “wrote Sasse.
The lawsuit – filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a staunch ally of Trump – sought to sue Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia and Wisconsin, which were all in favor of Biden, and invalidate his election results.
Trump is analyzing Congressional certification of the results next week as his next opportunity to overturn the result, but the process – even if extended by members of Congress who oppose the results of the states – will inevitably end with Biden entering the White House in January 20th.
This story has been updated with additional context information.
CNN’s Jeremy Herb, Phil Mattingly, Lauren Fox and Joan Biskupic contributed to this report.