“President Trump denounced what happened and I think everyone should have been unequivocal in his denunciation of what happened, not only on January 6, but during the summer, when cities were on fire,” said Scalise.
“You saw the left denouncing January 6, like us. They did not denounce what happened during the summer, ”he said. “So, let’s be frank and tell anyone who uses violence to resolve political disputes, there is no place for that in America and it must be unequivocally contested.”
Scalise’s claims came in response to questioner Jon Karl about the Republican whip’s visit this weekend with Trump at his resort in Mar-a-Lago. Karl asked if Scalise accepted Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 elections as legitimate. The former president repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of the election, claiming without evidence that there was widespread fraud that led to his defeat.
“Yes, he is the legitimate president,” said Scalise of Biden. “But if you are going to ignore the fact that there were states that did not follow their own state legislative laws, that is the central issue, with which millions of people are still not happy and do not want to see it happen again. “
One argument made in some states by the president’s lawyers was that the pandemic-induced changes in voting procedures were made without the approval of the state legislature.
Scalise said that many Americans fear whether these changes will be carried forward to the next election.
“I think this is the biggest frustration that many people have, are those states that did not follow the law, will they continue to do so in the future, or will we finally go back to what the Constitution requires to elect our leaders? ” he said.