After House minority leader Kevin McCarthy downplayed Trump’s impressive demand, other Republicans rushed to his defense – and some refused to question the president’s actions.
“I was not involved in the call,” said Minnesota representative Tom Emmer, who chairs the Republican Party’s campaign arm.
Rep. Paul Gosar, a conservative Arizona Republican who is joining his colleagues’ effort to overturn election results on Wednesday, said Trump’s appeal was simply an expression of “enormous frustration”.
“Politically correct speech doesn’t work well,” said Gosar when asked about Trump.
Representative Lee Zeldin, a New York Republican, criticized the press when asked if he had any concerns about Trump’s one-hour call, which was recorded on tape and leaked to the media.
“I would like the reporting on this to be a complete and honest discussion – as opposed to the one-sided and biased approach,” said Zeldin.
But some Republicans have expressed concerns, including Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third in the leadership of the Republican Party, who is also asking her colleagues to avoid the effort to subvert voters’ will when Congress meets on Wednesday to count the electoral votes that made Biden the winner of the race.
“I think it was deeply worrying,” Cheney told CNN of the call. “I think it was deeply worrying and I think that everyone should hear it all the time.”
Democrats also began to discuss how to respond to Trump’s call on Monday.
Representative Hank Johnson, a Georgia Democrat who sits on the House Judiciary Committee, distributed a letter on Monday to get support for a resolution he plans to present to censor and condemn Trump for trying to overturn Georgia’s election results, sources said Democrats to CNN on Monday. It remains to be seen whether the chamber will vote on the resolution, which would amount to a symbolic rebuke from the president.
The debate comes amid a growing division of the Republican Party ahead of Wednesday’s joint session of Congress, when House Republicans must oppose the counting of electoral votes that Biden is the elected president. If they are accompanied by at least one Republican senator, which is expected, each chamber will have to debate the objections for up to two hours before a vote to confirm the objection. The votes are destined to fail, but the measures could prolong the debate, as members of the House plan to object to six states that Trump lost – and this is already putting many Republicans in a difficult position.
Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman, who runs for re-election in 2022, said on Monday that he would support certification of the election on Wednesday and would oppose the efforts of some of his Republican colleagues to challenge the vote.
“I intend to honor this oath by supporting state certifications and the will of the people. I will vote to certify according to my duty under the Constitution,” Portman said in a statement. “I cannot support that Congress frustrates the will of the voters.”
“What I read – the president has always been concerned with the integrity of the election,” McCarthy told Fox when asked about Georgia’s call.
It is still possible that the majority of House Republicans will join the effort to challenge the election. Emmer, for example, did not say whether he supported the challenge.
“I understand that some senators will oppose – we will see how the debate goes,” said Emmer, adding that he would take stock of how the debate will take place. “I will listen.”
New Jersey MP Jeff Van Drew, a former Democrat who became a Republican, said he would join efforts to oppose the election results.
“Whenever about 50% of the American public does not believe the elections are valid, there is something wrong,” said Van Drew. They said that many voters do not believe the elections were valid because Trump refused to accept the results, Van Drew said: “They don’t listen to everything he says. They are doing it because they believe it.”