A growing number of Republican lawmakers are joining President Donald Trump’s extraordinary effort to overturn the election, pledging to reject the results when Congress meets next week to count the Electoral College votes and certify President-elect Joe Biden’s win.
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas on Saturday announced a coalition of 11 senators who have been enlisted for Trump’s effort to subvert the will of American voters.
This follows the declaration from Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who was the first to buck Senate leadership by saying he would join with House Republicans in objecting to the state tallies during Wednesday’s joint session of Congress.
Trump’s refusal to accept his defeat is tearing the party apart as Republicans are forced to make consequential choices that will set the contours of the post-Trump era. Hawley and Cruz are both among potential 2024 presidential contenders.
Glad to see more Senators joining the fight on #JAN6. I hope many more will listen to their constituents and act https://t.co/cqifv6u3gH
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) January 2, 2021
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had urged his party not to try to overturn what nonpartisan election officials have concluded was a free and fair vote.
The 11 senators largely acknowledged Saturday they will not succeed in preventing Biden from being inaugurated on Jan. 20 after he won the Electoral College 302-232. But their challenges, and those from House Republicans, represent the most sweeping effort to undo a presidential election outcome since the Civil War.
An attempt to steal a landslide win. Can’t let it happen! https://t.co/sKn4iTjUy0
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2021
“We do not take this action lightly,” Cruz and the other senators said in a joint statement.
They vowed to vote against certain state electors on Wednesday unless Congress appoints an electoral commission to immediately conduct an audit of the election results. They are zeroing in on the states where Trump has raised unfounded claims of voter fraud. Congress is unlikely to agree to their demand.
The group, which presented no new evidence of election problems, includes Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Steve Daines of Montana, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Mike Braun of Indiana, and Sens.-elect Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.
Trump, the first president to lose a reelection bid in almost 30 years, has attributed his defeat to widespread voter fraud, despite the consensus of nonpartisan election officials and even Trump’s attorney general that there was none. Of the roughly 50 lawsuits the president and his allies have filed challenging election results, nearly all have been dismissed or dropped. He’s also lost twice at the U.S. Supreme Court.
The days ahead are expected to do little to change the outcome.
“Joe Biden will be inaugurated on January 20th, and no publicity stunt will change that,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, the top Democrat on the panel overseeing the Electoral College count.
Klobuchar said the Republican effort to create a federal commission “to supersede state certifications when the votes have already been counted, recounted, litigated, and state-certified” is wrong.
“It is undemocratic. It is un-American. And fortunately it will be unsuccessful. In the end, democracy will prevail,” she said in a statement.
The convening of the joint session to count the Electoral College votes is usually routine. While objections have surfaced before — in 2017, several House Democrats challenged Trump’s win — few have approached this level of intensity.
On the other side of the Republican divide, Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, another possible 2024 contender, has urged his colleagues to “reject this dangerous ploy,” which he said threatens the nation’s civic norms.
Caught in the middle is Vice President Mike Pence, who faces growing pressure from Trump’s allies over his ceremonial role in presiding over the session Wednesday.
Several Republicans have indicated they are under pressure from constituents back home to show they are fighting for Trump in his baseless campaign to stay in office.
Sen. John Thune, the second-ranking Republican, told reporters at the Capitol that leadership was allowing senators to “vote their conscience.”
Thune’s remarks as the GOP whip in charge of rounding up votes show that Republican leadership is not putting its muscle behind Trump’s demands, but allowing senators to choose their course. He noted the gravity of questioning the election outcome.
“This is an issue that’s incredibly consequential, incredibly rare historically and very precedent-setting,” he said. “This is a big vote.”
Pence will be carefully watched as he presides over what is typically a routine vote count in Congress but is now heading toward a prolonged showdown that could extend into Wednesday night, depending on how many challenges are mounted.
A judge in Texas dismissed a lawsuit from Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, and a group of Arizona electors trying to force Pence to step outside mere ceremony and shape the outcome of the vote. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Kernodle, a Trump appointee, dismissed the suit late Friday.
To ward off a dramatic unraveling, McConnell convened a conference call with Republican senators Thursday specifically to address the coming joint session and logistics of tallying the vote, according to several Republicans granted anonymity to discuss the private call.
The Republican leader pointedly called on Hawley to answer questions about his challenge to Biden’s victory, according to two of the Republicans.
But there was no response because Hawley was a no-show, the Republicans said.
Hawley’s office said he sent an email afterward to his colleagues explaining his views. In the email, Hawley said constituents back home are “angry and disillusioned” with the outcome of the election.
Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., who has acknowledged Biden’s victory and defended his state’s elections systems as valid and accurate, spoke up on the call, objecting to those challenging Pennsylvania’s results and making clear he disagrees with plans to contest the result, his office said in a statement.
McConnell had previously warned GOP senators not to participate in raising objections, saying it would be a terrible vote for colleagues. In essence, lawmakers would be forced to choose between the will of the outgoing president and that of the voters.
(AP)
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14 Responses
כל הכבוד These heroes have all my Blessings for fighting for the absolute אמת and should merit to succeed in their holy mission, and get sleeping joe sent packing back to his Delaware basement or even to prison for stealing
This articles assumptions are biased. You should take the time to print repurposed articles that show both sides to this very serious issue that will impact yidden everywhere.
11 is a fitting number. It corresponds to Haman and his 10 sons.
Trump’s effort to subvert the will of American voters?? Which voters, the dead ones? or the ones that voted 4 times in multiple states? Another AP hit piece. I think TYW should find a better place to get their articles.
These clowns are wasting their time and taxpayer money. A majority of both HOUSES has to agree to reject state certified electors. The Dems hold a majority in the House plus about 40 Republicans who have said they will NOT go along so its DOA already. In the Senate all the Dems plus at least 14 Republicans have said they will NOT vote to reject so its DOA there too. What Cruz and these other Trump sycophants will accomplish is to delay the certification by about 18 to 22 hours (assuming they take the full 2 hours for each state plus the time to go back and forth to the Senate chamber for debate over each state’s electors.
I find it so hard to keep track of which conspiracy theories we are supposed to believe. Clearly, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Holocaust denial are out, and all the ones promoting a game show tycoon, pornography mogul, mafia-boss are in. But what about the Moon landing? 911 truth? Without Yeshiva World News, I would not know how to approach these matters.
“But their challenges, and those from House Republicans, represent the most sweeping effort to undo a presidential election outcome since the Civil War.”
Actually Republicans did undo a Presidential election outcome after the 1876 win by New York Governor Samuel Tilden. This time they will fail.
“Trump’s refusal to accept his defeat is tearing the party apart”
It deserves to be destroyed, just as the Fascist Party in Italy was after World War II. Biden won by a landslide and the Republican Party is showing that it cares not about what voters want.
Sen. Mitt Romney:
“The egregious ploy to reject electors may enhance the political ambition of some, but dangerously threatens our Democratic Republic. The congressional power to reject electors is reserved for the most extreme and unusual circumstances. These are far from it. More Americans participated in this election than ever before, and they made their choice. President Trump’s lawyers made their case before scores of courts; in every instance, they failed. The Justice Department found no evidence of irregularity sufficient to overturn the election. The Presidential Voter Fraud Commission disbanded without finding such evidence.
“My fellow Senator Ted Cruz and the co-signers of his statement argue that rejection of electors or an election audit directed by Congress would restore trust in the election. Nonsense. This argument ignores the widely perceived reality that Congress is an overwhelmingly partisan body; the American people wisely place greater trust in the federal courts where judges serve for life. Members of Congress who would substitute their own partisan judgement for that of the courts do not enhance public trust, they imperil it.
“Were Congress to actually reject state electors, partisans would inevitably demand the same any time their candidate had lost. Congress, not voters in the respective states, would choose our presidents.
“Adding to this ill-conceived endeavor by some in Congress is the President’s call for his supporters to come to the Capitol on the day when this matter is to be debated and decided. This has the predictable potential to lead to disruption, and worse.
“I could never have imagined seeing these things in the greatest democracy in the world. Has ambition so eclipsed principle?”
The lying AP is so disgusting.
President Trump won reelection, but it was stolen from him.
Why does YWN reprint AP biased reports which contain opinions not news.
YWN is entitled to have its own opinion but why do we need to hear AP’s opinions if we want those we can go elsewhere.
This is obviously not the first time this has happened but due to the severity of the issue it might just be the worst.
in reference to my previous post. I am not saying that the election was definitely stolen. But there are enough questions to make us think that it was. And the fact that no court has agreed is not based on the evidence. That has apparently not been looked at. The courts have thrown the cases out on standing and form etc not evidence.
Surely the evidence needs looking at, people have a right to that. And the media needs to stop using the word baseless etc
The evidence of election [redacted] in PA, Georgia, Arizona, Michigan and elsewhere is compelling. There is overwhelming circumstantial evidence and a deluge of direct evidence of election [redacted]. The evidence needs to be convincingly refuted or Trump must be re-inaugurated. Trolling Donald Trump saying (in Trumps style) “2020 was the most secure election EVER,” might have been “funny” at first, but the evidence indicates that there assuredly was widespread, massive, multi-level election [redacted].
Much of the evidence was presented to various state legislatures. When they call you for jury duty the court tells you that you need no special training or legal background to serve on a jury. I watched the hearings with an impartial, skeptical posture. The evidence is real. A major issue hiding in plain sight is the role of media and big tech. They are suppressing information. They are providing cover for the election [redacted]. They are outright lying to people.
President Trump and others (such as the State of Texas) tried to make legally-sound procedural arguments (which could have won on their merits) to avoid arguing [redacted], but the court system failed the American people, declining to hear the cases. Not one court ruled on the merits of the cases. So now the American people are down to their final option. We have to air our dirty laundry for all to see.
Lin Wood
@LLinWood
(1) For two months we have focused on accusing the Democrats of attempting to steal the 20/20 election for Biden. We focused on the Presidential election.
We focused on the obvious.
Over time, we have learned that the Democrats were joined by CCP & other foreign countries.
12:51 pm · 1 Jan 2021·Twitter for iPhone
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Lin Wood
@LLinWood
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(2) We have also learned that the Globalists like George Soros & the Elitists like Bill Gates were involved. CIA too (no surprise – military industrial complex).
It all seemed so clear we overlooked one of the main participants in the theft of the election:
THE REPUBLICANS.
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Lin Wood
@LLinWood
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(3) These groups aspire to the goals of Communism. A ruling elite & an oppressed class of people who exist to serve those in power.
When arrests for treason begin, put Chief Justice John Roberts, VP Mike Pence
@VP
@Mike_Pence
, & Mitch McConnell
@senatemajldr
at top of list.
We as Yidden have always known that golus is corrupted by The Almighty’s design – what is interesting is that a large group of people
[100 Mil. or so in the USA alone] are now resolute that Justice must prevail, and a very large portion of them believe in something much greater than the universe…