January 24, 2020, US Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri,
speaks to the press during a break in the Senate impeachment trial
of US President Donald Trump, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC.
Mandel NGAN / AFP
A Republican senator said Wednesday that he will object
to Congress’s certification next week of the results of the
November 3 US presidential election, a move that may slightly delay
— but not derail — the final confirmation of Democrat Joe Biden’s
victory.
Several Republican members of the House of Representatives have
also said they plan to object to the January 6 certification of the
Electoral College vote but Josh Hawley of Missouri was the first
senator to confirm so publicly.
Vice President Mike Pence is to lead the joint session of
Congress which certifies the Electoral College results that
determine the winner of the White House race.
Biden won 306 of the Electoral College votes that represent the
returns of the popular vote in each of the US states while
incumbent Donald Trump won 232.
Congressional certification of the Electoral College results has
historically been a formality but Trump has refused to acknowledge
his defeat and spent the past two months making claims of election
fraud while not producing any credible evidence.
Dozens of lawsuits brought by the Trump campaign and his
Republican allies alleging election irregularities have been
dismissed by courts around the country.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has
reportedly sought to dissuade fellow Republican senators from
objecting to certification of the results but Hawley said he plans
to do so anyway and he may be joined by other Republican
senators.
At least one member of the House and one member of the Senate
needs to lodge an objection to certification to send it to the
floor for debate and a vote.
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A vote would be doomed to failure, however, in the
Democratic-controlled House and would also be unlikely to pass in
the Republican-majority Senate, where a number of Republican
senators have already acknowledged Biden’s victory.
‘Election integrity’
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House, said
Wednesday that Hawley’s move would come to nothing.
“I have no doubt that on next Wednesday, a week from today, that
Joe Biden will be confirmed by the acceptance of the vote of the
Electoral College as the 46th president of the United States,”
Pelosi said.
Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for the Biden transition team who has
been tapped to be next White House press secretary, also said the
move would not prevent Biden from taking office on January 20.
“Let me first say the American people spoke resoundingly in this
election and 81 million people have voted for Joe Biden and Kamala
Harris,” Psaki told reporters.
“Regardless of what anyone is up to on January 6,
President-elect Biden will be sworn in on the 20th,” she added.
Hawley said he was objecting to certification because of
concerns about “election integrity” and noted that Democrats had
done so in the past.
“Following both the 2004 and 2016 elections, Democrats in
Congress objected during the certification of electoral votes in
order to raise concerns about election integrity,” he said in a
statement. “And they were entitled to do so.
“But now those of us concerned about the integrity of this
election are entitled to do the same,” Hawley said. “At the very
least, Congress should investigate allegations of voter fraud and
adopt measures to secure the integrity of our elections.”
Trump has called on his supporters to converge on Washington on
January 6 to pressure lawmakers not to certify Biden’s win.
The rally could draw thousands of Trump backers who believe his
unfounded claims that massive voting fraud caused his defeat and
prevented him from serving a second term.
AFP
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