Category: US House

Electoral College fight splits GOP as opposition grows to election challenge

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Wednesday’s fight over a long-shot effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election is dividing Republicans, including those from the same state, as opposition grows to the plan. 

Several Republican senators formally announced on Tuesday that they will oppose challenging the Electoral College results, meaning GOP senators in at least five states will split when Congress convenes its joint session on Wednesday where lawmakers will count the votes, a pro forma exercise that in previous years has taken a matter of minutes. 

GOP Sens. John Cornyn (Texas), James Inhofe (Okla.) and Jerry Moran (Kan.) each said Tuesday that they will not support efforts to challenge President-elect Joe Biden‘s win in key battleground states.  Continue reading.

Pence says he lacks authority to throw out Electoral College votes

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Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday that he lacked constitutional authority to follow President Trump’s wishes to throw out Electoral College votes for President-elect Joe Biden. 

Why it matters: Trump has been pressuring Pence to overturn the election results as part of an ongoing attempt to subvert Biden’s clear win, which failed to garner evidence or support through various legal battles. Trump will view Pence’s statement as the ultimate act of betrayal.

What they’re saying: “It is my considered judgement that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not,” Pence wrote. Continue reading.

The Republicans refusing to join Trump’s coup attempt are making a stunning admission

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A small group of far right GOP members of Congress were getting some initial praise after announcing they would not be joining Republicans contesting the presidential election – until they released a statement explaining why.

Essentially, the seven lawmakers are explicitly warning their Republican colleagues to not challenge or disrupt the Electoral College, because that is likely the only way America will see another Republican president.

“Republican presidential candidates have won the national popular vote only once in the last 32 years,” they freely admit. “They have therefore depended on the electoral college for nearly all presidential victories in the last generation.” Continue reading.

Upholding His Constitutional Oath and the Will of American Voters, Phillips Will Vote to Affirm Electoral College Results

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Rep. Dean Phillips (MN-03) will uphold his oath to the Constitution and the will of American voters by affirming the Electoral College results of the 2020 presidential election.  

“What has been a routine procedure for the better part of our nation’s history is suddenly being politicized in ways that set a very dangerous precedent,” said Phillips. “The role of Congress is to count the electoral votes as submitted by the states, and that’s exactly what I and most of my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans, intend to do. For we recognize that this is not about a preserving a president, rather preserving the presidency and the very system of government that has made the United States of America the oldest continuous democracy in the world.”

As Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), and other principled Republicans in Congress have affirmed this week, our founders were very intentional about entrusting the administration of federal elections to the states, the election of the president through the Electoral College, and the adjudication of election disputes to the courts.

Internet erupts after Devin Nunes awarded the Medal of Freedom for ‘thwarting a plot to take down’ the president

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President Donald Trump, according to CNN’s Kaitlin Collins, has chosen Rep. Devin Nunes of California to receive the Medal of Freedom — and Collins describes Trump’s reasons for picking the far-right conspiracy theorist as a “doozy.” 

According to an official statement from the Trump White House, Nunes’ “courageous actions helped thwart a plot to take down a sitting United States president. He also forced the disclosure of documents that proved that a corrupt senior FBI official pursued a vindictive persecution of Gen. Michael Flynn — even after rank and file FBI agents found no evidence of wrongdoing.”

Here are some of the incredulous reactions that Twitter users have had to what Collins accurately described as a “doozy”: Continue reading.

Capitol placed on lockdown, buildings evacuated amid protests

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The U.S. Capitol Police on Wednesday locked down the Capitol building and evacuated multiple congressional buildings amid increasingly violent protests outside.

Buildings being evacuated included the Library of Congress’s Madison Building across from the Capitol as well as the Cannon House office building. In an alert sent to Hill staffers, police ordered occupants of the Madison building to “move in a safe manner to the exists” and “close doors behind you but do not lock.”

Capitol police also told those in the Cannon House building to “take visitors, escape hoods, and Go Kits” and report to a tunnel connected to a nearby building. Continue reading.

Karl Rove Goes Off on Trump’s ‘Unseemly’ Georgia Phone Call: ‘It Boggles My Mind’

“The president has been ill-served in this whole process.”

Fox News contributor Karl Rove joined other Republicans on Monday in openly criticizing President Donald Trump’s “unseemly” call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which he urged the Republican official to “find” 11,780 more votes in his favor to flip the state from President-elect Joe Biden.

In a potentially legally perilous call over the weekend, the president spent an hour attempting to shake down Raffensperger while parroting unhinged conspiracy theories about widespread voter fraud. A recording of the call, which featured the Georgia secretary of state repeatedly debunking Trump’s false claims and rebuffing his requests to overturn the election, was later leaked to TheWashington Post.

During Monday’s broadcast of Fox News panel show Outnumbered, Rove—who has been criticalof Trump’s efforts to overthrow Biden’s victory—was asked by lead anchor Harris Faulkner to respond to the “shock over one Republican recording that” call. Continue reading.

Business leaders urge Congress to certify Biden win

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Almost 200 of the country’s top business leaders urged Congress to certify the electoral results for President-elect Joe Biden in a letter Monday, arguing that “attempts to thwart or delay this process run counter to the essential tenets of our democracy.”

The letter marked the business community’s most significant push yet to ensure President Trump’s efforts to overturn the November election are unsuccessful. Signers included a wide array of executives of Fortune 500 companies, from the leaders of banks, airlines, investment firms, pharmaceutical companies, professional sports leagues, real estate conglomerates, top law firms and media companies.

“The presidential election has been decided and it is time for the country to move forward,” the letter reviewed by The Washington Post said. “ … The incoming Biden administration faces the urgent tasks of defeating covid-19 and restoring the livelihoods of millions of Americans who have lost jobs and businesses during the pandemic.” Continue reading.

DC braces for pro-Trump protests amid Electoral College challenge

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Officials in Washington, D.C., are bracing for clashes in the streets Wednesday as thousands of pro-Trump supporters arrive to protest the presidential election and cheer on challenges of the Electoral College in Congress.

President Trump in several tweets has called his supporters to gather in the country’s capital for “wild” protests, sparking fears of trouble between proponents and critics of the president.

Three groups have submitted permits to the National Parks Service (NPS) to hold demonstrations Tuesday and Wednesday, calling on Congress to move toward overturning the election in Trump’s favor. The NPS has approved two, granting Women For America First a permit for the “March for Trump” at the Ellipse on Wednesday and the Eighty Percent Coalition a permit for its “Rally for Revival” in Freedom Plaza on Tuesday.  Continue reading.

‘Sedition’ of Trump-supporting senators has a silver lining: political economist

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I’ve been in or around politics for over a half century now, and I never imagined how low and looney the Republican Party would become. Eleven Republican senators and senators-elect said today they will vote to reject President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory next Wednesday when Congress meets to formally certify it.

They are joining a growing movement in the GOP to defy the unambiguous results of the 2020 presidential election and support Trump’s bizarre attempt to remain in power with false claims of voting fraud.

Remember: Every state has now certified the election results after verifying their accuracy. Several underwent post-election audits or hand counts. At the same time, judges across America, including Supreme Court justices, have rejected nearly 60 attempts by Trump and his allies to challenge the results.