Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley said he will object to certifying the Electoral College results in at least one state on January 6 even though the doomed effort stands no chance of overturning President Donald Trump’s loss, The New York Times reports.
Hawley became the first Republican senator to announce he will join the House GOP effort to object to Congress certifying the results in certain contested states next week.
Hawley, who is considered a potential 2024 candidate, said the objection was “an effort to highlight the failure” of states “to follow their own election laws as well as the unprecedented interference of Big Tech monopolies in the election.”
“Millions of voters concerned about election integrity deserve to be heard,” Hawley said in a statement. “I will object on Jan. 6 on their behalf.”
Other Republicans may join the effort despite efforts from Mitch McConnell to shut down the scheme. The plan can only delay the certification of results for two hours unless a majority of both the Senate and the Democratic-led House votes to block the results, which won’t happen.
Democrats rip “coup attempt”:
Jen Psaki, President-elect Joe Biden’s spokeswoman, said that “the American people spoke resoundingly in this election,” and the certification is “merely a formality.”
“Regardless of whatever antics anyone is up to on Jan. 6, President-elect Biden will be sworn in on the 20th,” she said.
“This is how you run for president on the Republican side in 2024,” said former Democratic presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar. “You join a coup attempt. Democracy will prevail.”
Ben Sasse rips Hawley:
Nebraska Republican Ben Sasse went off on the Republican stunt after Hawley’s announcement.
"Having been in private conversation with two dozen of my colleagues over the past few weeks, it seems useful to explain in public why I will not be participating in a project to overturn the election -- and why I have been urging my colleagues also to reject this dangerous ploy," Sasse wrote in a lengthy Facebook post.
"The president and his allies are playing with fire. They have been asking -- first the courts, then state legislatures, now the Congress -- to overturn the results of a presidential election. They have unsuccessfully called on judges and are now calling on federal officeholders to invalidate millions and millions of votes. If you make big claims, you had better have the evidence. But the president doesn't and neither do the institutional arsonist members of Congress who will object to the Electoral College vote."
"When we talk in private, I haven't heard a single Congressional Republican allege that the election results were fraudulent -- not one," he wrote. "Instead, I hear them talk about their worries about how they will 'look' to President Trump's most ardent supporters."
"Let's be clear what is happening here: We have a bunch of ambitious politicians who think there's a quick way to tap into the president's populist base without doing any real, long-term damage. But they're wrong -- and this issue is bigger than anyone's personal ambitions," he added.
