Senator Josh Hawley joined “The Story” exclusively on Wednesday to speak out after receiving reaction from Democrats over his declared plan to object to presidential voters in several states when Congress certifies the election next week.
Under current law, at least one senator and a member of the US House of Representatives are needed to force a debate over electoral counts in a state. Hawley, R-Mo., On Wednesday became the first United States senator to announce his intention, joining Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., As a counterpart in the House.
Presenter Will Cain noted that the Missouri legislature almost immediately drew a negative reaction from his Democratic colleagues, with Connecticut Senator Christopher Murphy claiming that he is trying to “make America a state similar to Russia or China” while the senator from Maryland, Chris Van Hollen, called him “grossly irresponsible.”
Hawley is “further undermining public confidence in our democratic process and supporting Trump’s false narrative,” said Van Hollen in an interview with CNN earlier in the day.
“In the first place, I don’t hear Democrats making such outrageous statements when they were the ones who objected during the polling station certification in 2004 and 2016. Democrats have been doing this for years to raise concerns about the integrity of the elections,” Hawley said in Fox News. “Now, when Republicans and 74 million Americans are concerned about electoral integrity, should we sit down and shut up? Someone has to stand up here.”
The legislator pointed out that Van Hollen did not object to the then Sen. Formal objection by Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., To Ohio voters during the 2005 certification of President George W. Bush’s reelection and therefore the defeat of the then Senator . John F. Kerry, D-Mass.
In his objection, Boxer had formally joined the late Deputy Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, a Democrat from Cleveland.
“I think Van Hollen in 2005 – January 2005 – personally praised the Democrats in the House and Senate who were opposed during the certification process, because it was their right to do so,” said Hawley. “Every senator and member of the House has the right to object, if he wants. It is a judgment on their part.”
Hawley added that although Missouri – whose voters will vote for President Trump – is not one of several states under consideration for objection, he is still hearing from its constituents that they feel deprived of rights for alleged inconsistencies in other states like Pennsylvania and Georgia.
“This is the only opportunity I have as a United States senator …”, he said. “[H]before my only chance to get up and say something, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. “
Hawley highlighted the state of Keystone, accusing authorities of “not following[ing] their own laws in the electoral process. “
In 2019, the Republican majority legislature passed Law 77, which was signed by Democratic Governor Tom Wolf. The new law allowed voting without excuse, among other measures – but several state Republicans claimed that the state’s Democratic-majority Supreme Court legislated from the bench when it issued 2020 orders giving voters until Friday after election day to send those ballots through the mail and essentially denied signature verification requirements.
“We had unprecedented interference with the biggest and most powerful corporation in favor of Joe Biden, censorship like we’ve never seen before,” said Hawley, referring to Big Tech as Facebook and Twitter.
“We have no congressional investigation into the fraud,” said Hawley. “We need this. We have had no action in Congress. We need this to protect our elections in the future. I will make all of these points and try to force a debate on all of them.”
In response to Hawley’s announcement, Biden’s spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki called the plan “antics” and said it would have no effect on Biden’s tenure on January 20.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.