WASHINGTON (AP) – Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo, said Wednesday he will present objections next week when Congress meets to affirm the victory of President-elect Joe Biden in the elections, forcing the votes of the House and Senate that are likely to delay, but not alter, the final certification of Biden’s victory.
President Donald Trump, without evidence, has claimed that there has been widespread election fraud. He has pushed Republican senators to pursue their unfounded charges even though this month the Electoral College consolidated Biden’s 306-232 victory and multiple legal efforts to challenge the results have failed.
A group of Republicans in the Democratic-majority House they have already said they will oppose on Trump’s behalf during the Jan. 6 election vote count, and that they only needed one senator to accompany them to force votes in both houses.
Without giving details or evidence, Hawley said he would oppose because “some states, including Pennsylvania in particular,” did not follow their own electoral laws. Claims against Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania have failed.
“At the very least, Congress should investigate allegations of election fraud and take steps to ensure the integrity of our election,” Hawley said in a statement. He also criticized the way Facebook and Twitter handled election-related content, and characterized it as an effort to help Biden.
Biden transition spokeswoman Jen Psaki dismissed Hawley’s move as “traps” that will have no bearing on Biden’s involvement on Jan. 20.
“The American people spoke out strongly in this election and 81 million people have voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” Psaki said in a call to reporters. He added: “Congress will certify the election results as every four years.”
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows praised Hawley on Twitter for “unforgivingly defending electoral integrity.”
When Congress is convened to certify the results of the Electoral College, any legislator may oppose the votes of a state for any reason. But the objection is not collected unless it is written and signed by both a member of the House and a member of the Senate.
When there is such a request, the joint session is suspended and the House and Senate participate in separate sessions to consider it. For the objection to be upheld, both chambers must accept it by simple majority. If they do not agree, the original electoral votes are counted.
The last time this objection was raised was in 2005, when Ohio Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones and California Sen. Barbara Boxer, both Democrats, opposed Ohio’s election votes, saying there were irregularities. in the vote. Both chambers debated the objection and rejected it. It was only the second time this vote had been taken.
As Senate President, Vice President Mike Pence will chair the Jan. 6 session and declare the winner.
Asked about Hawley’s announcement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said: “I have no doubt that next Wednesday, a week from now, Joe Biden will be confirmed by accepting the election college vote as 46th president of the United States “.
Hawley is the first term senator and potential candidate in the 2024 presidential primary, and his decision to join House objectors is a rejection of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who had called for his caucus that you do not participate. in a futile search to overturn the results.
Aware that the Democratic-led House would not support this challenge and would endanger most of his fellow Republican Party senators, McConnell told them in a private call on Dec. 15 that it would be a “terrible vote” to have to take . This is according to two people who were not allowed to publicly discuss the private call and spoke on condition of anonymity.
While some Republicans have echoed Trump’s unsubstantiated claims, or at least refused to rebut them, McConnell and a growing number of Republican Party senators have acknowledged that Biden won and would inaugurate the January 20th.
Senate No. 2 Republican Sen. South Dakota Sen. John Thune said earlier this month that if the Senate was forced to vote on a challenge, “it would come down like a shot dog.” Thune said it made no sense to get senators to vote when “you already know what the end result will be.”
Several election officials and supporters of the non-partisan elections have confirmed that there was no fraud in the November contest that would alter the election results. This includes former Attorney General William Barr, who said he saw no reason to appoint a special lawyer to examine the president’s claims about the 2020 election. He then resigned last week.
Trump and his allies have filed about 50 lawsuits to challenge election results and almost all have been fired or withdrawn. He has also lost twice to the Supreme Court.
The House Republican group has said they plan to challenge the election results in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada. They are all states that Biden carried.
Alabama Representative Mo Brooks, one of the Republicans leading the efforts, has raised questions about how the state election was conducted. Some of the states made changes to ballot boxes and procedures during the pandemic. While the new procedures may have caused confusion in some places, state and federal officials have said there is no credible evidence of widespread fraud.
In addition to having to go to the polls with a vote, Republicans are worried about the negative effects of the two Senate elections in Georgia this Tuesday. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler face challenging Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in a state that was overturned in November by Biden.
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Aamer Madhani, a writer for the Associated Press in Chicago, contributed to this report.