WASHINGTON (AP) – Senator Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Said on Wednesday that he will raise objections next week when Congress meets to assert victory for President-elect Joe Biden in the election, forcing votes in the House and Senate that may delay – but in no way alter – the final certification Biden’s victory.
President Donald Trump, without evidence, claimed that there was widespread election fraud. He pressured Republican senators to pursue their unfounded accusations, although the Electoral College this month cemented Biden’s 306-232 victory and several legal efforts to contest the results have failed.
A group of Republicans in the Democratic majority chamber they have already said they will object on Trump’s behalf during the counting of the January 6 electoral votes, and they needed only a single senator to accompany them to force votes in both chambers.
Without giving details or evidence, Hawley said he would object because “some states, including Pennsylvania” have not followed their own electoral laws. Lawsuits that question Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania have not been successful.
“At the very least, Congress must investigate allegations of electoral fraud and take steps to ensure the integrity of our elections,” Hawley said in a statement. He also criticized the way Facebook and Twitter handled election-related content, characterizing it as an effort to help Biden.
Biden’s transition spokeswoman Jen Psaki dismissed Hawley’s action as “clowning” that has nothing to do with the fact that Biden was sworn in on January 20.
“The American people spoke loudly in this election and 81 million people voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” said Psaki in a call to reporters. She added: “Congress will certify the election results as they do every four years.”
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows praised Hawley on Twitter for “apologetically defending electoral integrity”.
When Congress meets to certify the results of the Electoral College, any legislator can oppose a state’s votes for any reason. But the objection is not raised unless it is in writing and signed by a member of the House and a member of the Senate.
When such a request is made, the joint session is suspended and the House and Senate enter separate sessions to consider it. For the objection to be upheld, both chambers must agree with it by a simple majority of votes. If they disagree, the original electoral votes are counted.
The last time such an objection was considered was in 2005, when Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio and Senator Barbara Boxer of California, both Democrats, objected to Ohio’s electoral votes, saying there were irregularities in the vote. Both chambers debated the objection and rejected it. It was only the second time that such a vote took place.
As president of the Senate, Vice President Mike Pence will chair the January 6 session and declare the winner.
Asked about Hawley’s announcement, Mayor Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Said: “I have no doubt that next Wednesday, a week from today, that Joe Biden will be confirmed by accepting the vote of the electoral college as the 46th president of the United States. “
Hawley is a first-term senator and potential candidate in the 2024 presidential primary, and his decision to join House opponents is a rejection of Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, who asked his caucus not to participate in a useless search to reverse the results.
Aware that the Democratic-led House would not support such a challenge and would put many of his fellow Republican senators in trouble, McConnell told them on a private call on December 15 that it would be a “terrible vote” to have to take. This is according to two people who were not authorized to publicly discuss the private call and spoke on condition of anonymity.
While some Republicans echoed Trump’s baseless claims, or at least refused to challenge them, McConnell and an increasing number of Republican senators acknowledged that Biden won and will be sworn in on January 20.
The second Senate Republican, South Dakota Sen. John Thune, said earlier this month that if the Senate were forced to vote on a challenge, “it would fall like a bullet.” Thune said it did not make sense to put senators to a vote when “you know what the end result will be”.
A number of non-partisan and Republican election officials confirmed that there was no fraud in the November dispute that would change the election results. That includes former Attorney General William Barr, who said he saw no reason to appoint a special lawyer to examine the president’s allegations about the 2020 elections. He then resigned last week.
Trump and his allies filed about 50 lawsuits questioning the results of the elections and almost all were dismissed or removed. He also lost twice in the Supreme Court.
The House Republican group said it plans to challenge the election results of Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada. All are states that Biden carried.
Alabama Representative Mo Brooks, one of the Republicans who is leading the effort, raised questions about how state elections were conducted. Some of the states made changes to ballots and procedures during the pandemic. Although the new procedures may have caused confusion in some places, state and federal officials said there was no reliable evidence of widespread fraud.
In addition to having to register a vote, Republicans are concerned about the negative effects of the two run-off Senate elections in Georgia on Tuesday. GOP Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler face Democratic opponents Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in a state that changed in November to Biden.
___
Associated Press editor Aamer Madhani of Chicago contributed to this report.