WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump’s Extraordinary Effort to Overturn Presidential Elections Will Be Held in Congress as Lawmakers Convene for Joint Session to Confirm Electoral College vote won by Joe Biden.
Wednesday’s usually routine procedure will be anything but a political confrontation that can’t be seen from the aftermath of the civil war when Trump makes a desperate effort to stay in office. The president’s Republican allies in the House and Senate plan to oppose the election results, given the supporters ’request to“ fight for Trump ”while organizing a rally outside the White House. It’s tearing the party apart.
It is true that the long effort, defeated by the bipartisan majorities of Congress willing to accept the results, will fail. Biden, which won the Electoral College 306-232, will open on January 20th.
“The most important part is that, in the end, democracy will prevail here,” Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, among those who run the proceedings, said in an interview.
The joint session of Congress, mandatory by law, will be convened at 1 p.m. EST under a restless and vigilant nation, months after the November 3 elections, two weeks before the traditional peaceful transfer of power from the inauguration and in the context of an increasing COVID. -19 pandemic.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who warned his party of this challenge, is expected to make the first remarks. The Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, aimed at initiating trials alongside the Capitol, described it as “of enormous historical significance”. It is about “ensuring confidence in our democratic system,” he said in a letter to colleagues.
But it’s Vice President Mike Pence who will be closely monitored while presiding over the session.
Despite Trump’s repeated claims about election fraud, election officials and his own attorney general they have said there were no problems at scale that would change the outcome. All states have certified their results so fair and precise, on the part of Republican and Democratic officials.
Pence plays a mostly ceremonial role: he opens the sealed envelopes of the states after taking them to mahogany boxes that are used for the occasion and reads the results aloud. But he is under growing pressure from Trump to tip him in favor of the president, despite having no power to affect the outcome.
While other vice presidents, including Al Gore and Richard Nixon, also presided over their own defeats, Pence supports those Republican lawmakers who pose challenges to the 2020 outcome.
“I hope our great vice president comes for us,” Trump said at a rally in Georgia this week. “He is a fantastic boy. Of course, if he doesn’t come, I won’t like him so much. “
This is not the first time lawmakers have challenged the results. Democrats did it in 2017 and 2005. But the intensity of Trump’s challenge is like nothing in modern times, and an outpouring of active and elected GOP officials warns that the confrontation is sowing distrust in the government and eroding the government. faith of Americans in democracy.
“There are no constitutionally viable means for Congress to cancel the election,” said Sen. Tim Scott, RS.C., who announced his refusal to join the effort on the eve of the session.
Still, more than a dozen Republican senators led by Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ted Cruz of Texas, along with up to 100 Republicans in the House, are pushing to object to the state results of Biden’s victory.
According to the rules of the joint session, any objection to the electoral account of a state must be submitted in writing by at least one member of the House and one member of the Senate. Each objection will force two hours of deliberations in the House and Senate, guaranteeing a long day.
House Republican lawmakers are signing objections to election voting in six states: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Arizona will likely be the first to be discussed as state records are announced in alphabetical order and Cruz has said he will join House Republicans to oppose that state.
Hawley has said he will oppose Pennsylvania’s election results, almost securing a two-hour second debate despite resistance from state Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, who said the count of Biden’s victory is correct.
Senator Kelly Loeffler may challenge the results in her state of Georgia. But it is unclear whether any of the other senators will oppose any other state, as lawmakers were still designing a strategy.
Democrats have a majority in the House and the Republican-led Senate is divided on the issue. Bipartisan majorities in both chambers are expected to deeply reject the objections.
The Cruz-led group pledges to oppose unless Congress agrees to form a commission to investigate the election, but it seems unlikely.
Those who have Cruz are Mr. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Steve Daines of Montana, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Mike Braun of Indiana, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.
Trump has promised to “fight like hell” to stay in office. He said at a rally in Georgia that voters voting for Biden “will not take this White House!”
Many of the Republicans who challenged the results said they are trying to give a voice to voters who do not trust the election result and want to see lawmakers fighting for Trump.
Hawley defended his role, saying his constituents have been “strong and clear” about his distrust of the election. “It is my responsibility as a senator to raise your concerns,” he wrote to colleagues.
While criticism increased, Cruz insisted that his goal was “not to set aside the election,” but to investigate allegations of voting problems. It has not produced any new evidence.
Both Hawley and Cruz are potential candidates for the 2024 presidency, competing for the base of Trump supporters.
Capitol officials have told lawmakers to arrive early, due to security precautions with protesters in Washington. Visitors, who often fill galleries to view relevant paperwork, will not be allowed to have permission under COVID-19 restrictions.
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Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, in Dalton, Ga., And Bill Barrow, in Atlanta, contributed to this report.