Washington – The unprecedented Republican attempt to reverse the presidential election has been condemned by a stream of current and former GOP officials who warn that the attempt to cast doubt on Joe Biden’s victory and keep President Trump in office has the confidence of undermines the Americans in democracy. Trump has enlisted the support of a dozen Republican senators and up to 100 House Republicans to challenge the electoral college vote when Congress meets in joint session this week to confirm President-elect Biden’s victory in 306-232.
With Mr Biden due to be inaugurated on January 20, Mr Trump is intensifying his efforts to prevent the traditional transfer of power and tear the party apart.
Despite Mr. Trump’s allegations of voter fraud, government officials have insisted that the election went smoothly and that there was no evidence of fraud or other issues that would change the outcome. The states have declared their results fair and valid. Of the more than 50 lawsuits filed by the president and his allies against the election results, almost all have been rejected or dropped. He has also lost twice in the US Supreme Court.
During a call announced on Sunday, Mr. Trump can be heard pressuring Georgian officials to ‘find’ him more votes.
But some prominent lawmakers, including prominent Republicans, are pushing back.
Several senators, Paul Ryan, Liz Cheney beam
“The 2020 election is over,” said a bipartisan group of 10 senators, including Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Mitt Romney of Utah.
The senators wrote that further attempts to cast doubt on the election “run counter to the clearly stated will of the American people and only serve to undermine the confidence of the Americans in the election results already determined.”
Republican Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland said, “Members of Congress’ plan to reject presidential election certification makes a mockery of our system and who we are as Americans.”
Former House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, said in a statement that “Mr Biden’s victory is completely legitimate” and that attempts to cast doubt on the election strike are “the foundation of our republic.”
Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third-placed House Republican, warned in a memo to colleagues that objections to the Electoral College’s results “set an extremely dangerous precedent.”
One of the more outspoken conservatives in Congress, Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, said he will not oppose the counting of certified election votes on Jan. 6. I am grateful for what the president has accomplished over the past four years. why I campaigned vigorously for his reelection. But if he objects to certified electoral votes, he won’t get a second term – it will just encourage the Democrats who want to further erode our system of constitutional government. ‘
Cotton said he is in favor of further investigations into any election issues apart from counting the electoral college’s certified results.
Previous Pentagon heads are speaking out
Other prominent former officials also criticized the ongoing attack on the election results. In a short op-ed in The Washington Post, the ten surviving former defense secretaries – half of whom had served Republican presidents – called on Pentagon officials to make the transition to the new government “complete, cooperative and transparent.” They also claimed that attempting to involve US forces in electoral dispute resolution “would put us on dangerous, illegal, and unconstitutional territory.”
Citing election results, legal challenges, state certificates and the vote of the electoral college, the former defense secretaries said that “the time to question the results has passed; the time to formally count the votes of the electoral college, as prescribed in the constitution and statute has arrived. “
The unusual challenge to the presidential election, on a scale unseen since the aftermath of the civil war, clouded the opening of the new Congress and will consume its early days. The House and Senate will meet in a joint session on Wednesday to accept the vote of the electoral college, a typically routine process that is now expected to be a protracted battle.
Trump refuses to give in, and pressure is mounting on Vice President Pence to ensure victory as he presides in what is typically a ceremonial role at the congressional meeting. Trump is calling crowds for a rally in Washington on Wednesday.
The president tweeted against the election figures on Sunday, and the Republicans were not on his side.
Mr. Biden’s transition spokesman, Mike Gwin, dismissed the Senators’ effort as a “stunt” that does not change the fact that Mr. Biden will be sworn in on January 20.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to colleagues that while there is “no doubt” about Mr Biden’s victory, their job is “to convince more American people to put their trust in our democratic system.”
The effort in the Senate was led by Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., And Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Hawley defended his actions in a lengthy email to colleagues, explaining that his Missouri constituents were “loud and clear” in their belief that Mr. Biden’s defeat of Mr. Trump was unfair.
“It is my responsibility as a senator to voice their concerns,” Hawley wrote late Saturday.
Hawley plans to object to the Pennsylvania state figures. But that state’s Republican senator, Pat Toomey, criticized the attack on the Pennsylvania electoral system, saying that the results Mr. Biden called the winner are valid.
Cruz’s coalition of 11 Republican senators promises to reject the Electoral College unless Congress sets up a committee to immediately audit the election results. They target the states where Mr. Trump has made unfounded voter fraud claims. Congress is unlikely to agree to their demand.
The group formed with Cruz, who presented no new evidence of election troubles, includes Sens. Ron Johnson from Wisconsin, James Lankford from Oklahoma, Steve Daines from Montana, John Kennedy from Louisiana, Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee and Mike Braun from Indiana. New senators to the group include Cynthia Lummis from Wyoming, Roger Marshall from Kansas, Bill Hagerty from Tennessee and Tommy Tuberville from Alabama.
The convening of the joint session to count the votes of the Electoral College has already met with objections. In 2017, several House Democrats contested Mr. Trump’s victory, but Mr. Biden, who then chaired as vice president, quickly dismissed them to claim Mr. Trump’s victory. Rarely have the protests reached this level of intensity.
Determine moment for GOP
The moment will shape the Republican Party in a post-Trump era. Both Hawley and Cruz are potential presidential contenders in 2024, confirming their affiliation with Mr Trump’s supporters. Others are trying to find a different path for the GOP.
Pence will be watched carefully while in charge of what is expected to be a protracted showdown, depending on the number of challenges taken on.
The vice president “welcomes the efforts of members of the House and Senate to use the authority they have under the law to raise objections,” Marc Short, Pence’s chief of staff, said in a statement Saturday.
Senate Leader Mitch McConnell has warned Republicans of such challenges, but said little when asked, such as in the Capitol when the Senate opened on Sunday.
“We’re all going to handle that on Wednesday,” he said.
But the Republicans simply said they have no intention of joining the effort that will fail.
Senator Lindsey Graham, RS.C., said on Sunday that his colleagues will have the opportunity to defend their case, but will need to provide evidence and facts. “They have a high bar for cleaning up,” he said.
Congress has hated to interfere with state-run electoral systems, a long-standing protocol. States elect their own election officials and draft their election laws. During the coronavirus pandemic. many states adapted by allowing postal voting to reduce the health risks of personal voting. Those and other changes are now being challenged by Mr. Trump and his allies.
Trump, the first president to lose a reelection bid in nearly 30 years, has attributed his defeat to widespread voter fraud, despite the consensus from impartial election officials and even Mr. Trump’s Attorney General that there was none.
The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, and a group of Arizona voters who sued to try to force Pence to step out of the ceremony and shape the outcome of the vote. The appeals court sided with the federal judge, one Trump-appointed, who dismissed the case.