US Senator Ted Cruz, other lawmakers mount drive to oppose Joe Biden's certification
Senator Ted Cruz, R-TX, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill , October 26, 2020. Photo: AFP
The statement asserts that "allegations of fraud and irregularities within the 2020 election exceed any in our lifetimes."
This a final plan to support Donald Trump´s efforts to undermine the US vote.
WASHINGTON: US Senator Ted Cruz along side dozens of other lawmakers are adamant on mounting a drive to challenge President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. This a final plan to support Donald Trump´s efforts to undermine the US vote.
The initiative, which appears bound to fail, flies within the face of rulings in dozens of courts and therefore the findings by officials in several key states, that there have been no widespread voting problems.
The Republicans' statement, signed by Cruz and 6 other current senators along side four senators-elect, asserts that "allegations of fraud and irregularities within the 2020 election exceed any in our lifetimes."
The group said that when Congress convenes during a joint session on Wednesday — for what normally would be a pro-forma certification of Biden's victory — they're going to demand the creation of a special commission to conduct an "emergency 10-day audit" of the election results.
The statement says individual states could then convene special legislative sessions and potentially revise their vote totals.
"An plan to steal a landslide win. Can´t let it happen!" Trump tweeted Saturday.
Posting an inventory of the 11 senators, Trump added: "And after they see the facts, plenty more to return ...Our Country will love them for it!"
They join Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, who said earlier that he planned to boost objections on Wednesday.
A Republican member of the House of Representatives, Louie Gohmert, has also announced his decide to oppose certification, and quite 100 House Republicans reportedly will back his challenge.
Gohmert sought to further raise the stakes with a lawsuit that might have given vice chairman Mike Pence — traditionally during a ceremonial role in Wednesday´s session — the facility to overturn the election result.
Pence opposed that effort, and a federal judge in Texas on Friday rejected the suit.
On Saturday, a federal appellate court upheld that dismissal.
The Hawley and Gohmert challenges will make sure that Congress must meet to listen to the complaints.
'The body has spoken'
The Congress sessions, bound to be contentious, will play out against a backdrop of pro-Trump rallies in Washington next week encouraged by the president himself.
As with Trump´s other attempts to reverse his election defeat, the newest political maneuvering appears doomed. Democrats control the House, and lots of Republicans are expected to vote Wednesday for certification.
The 11 senators conceded that the majority Democrats and "more than a couple of Republicans" would likely oppose their initiative.
Among them is Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, whose state was a battleground that helped tip Biden into the win column. Its result's expected to be among those contested on Wednesday.
"A fundamental, defining feature of a democratic republic is that the right of the people to elect their own leaders," Toomey said on Twitter.
"The effort by Sens. Hawley, Cruz, et al. to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in swing states like Pennsylvania directly undermines this right."
He added: "I voted for President Trump and endorsed him for re-election. But, on Wednesday, I shall vigorously defend our sort of government by opposing this effort to disenfranchise many voters in my state et al. ."
Utah Senator Mitt Romney, a vocal Trump opponent and onetime presidential candidate who lost a 2012 White House bid to Barack Obama, dismissed his colleagues´ rationale as "nonsense."
"The egregious ploy to reject electors may enhance the political ambition of some, but dangerously threatens our Democratic Republic," Romney said during a statement.
"Members of Congress who would substitute their own partisan judgment for that of the courts don't enhance charitable trust , they imperil it," he said, adding, "Has ambition so eclipsed principle?"
Senate legislator Mitch McConnell has urged fellow Republicans to vote to certify and avoid a divisive political brawl, saying, "The body has spoken."
Biden won within the all-important body by a vote of 306 to 232.
Cruz is taken into account a possible 2024 presidential candidate. Hawley is additionally said to be positioning himself for a 2024 run — then is Pence.
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