WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump’s extraordinary attempt to reverse presidential election goes before Congress as lawmakers gather for joint session to confirm Electoral College vote won by Joe Biden.
The typical routine that takes place on Wednesday will be anything but a political showdown unseen since the aftermath of the civil war as Trump makes a desperate attempt to stay in office. The president’s Republican allies in the House and Senate plan to object to the election results, obeying supporters’ plea to “fight for Trump” as he organizes a rally outside the White House. It tears the party apart.
The long-held effort will almost certainly fail, defeated by a two-part majority in Congress willing to accept the results. Biden, which won the Electoral College 306-232, will be inaugurated on Jan. 20.
“Most importantly, democracy will eventually prevail here,” Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, among those leading the proceedings, said in an interview.
Legally required joint session of Congress meets under a vigilant, restless country at 1:00 p.m. EST – months after the Nov. 3 elections, two weeks before the traditional peaceful transfer of power from the inauguration, and against the backdrop of rising COVID -19 pandemic.
Senate leader Mitch McConnell, who warned his party of this challenge, is expected to make early remarks. House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who performed the gavel on her side of the Capitol, called it a day of “tremendous historical significance.” It’s about “guaranteeing trust in our democratic system,” she 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 allegations of voter fraud, election officials and his own former Attorney General said there were no problems on a scale that would change the outcome. All states have certified their results equally fair and accurate, by both Republican and Democratic officials.
Pence has a largely ceremonial role, opening the United States’ sealed envelopes after they have been shipped in mahogany boxes used for the occasion, and reading out the results. But he’s under increasing pressure from Trump to tip it in favor of the president, despite having no power to influence the outcome.
While other vice presidents, including Al Gore and Richard Nixon, also presided over their own defeats, Pence supports Republican lawmakers facing challenges to the 2020 outcome.
“I hope our great vice president comes for us,” Trump said at a rally in Georgia this week. ‘He’s a great guy. If he doesn’t come through, of course I won’t like him that much. “
It is not the first time that legislators have questioned the results. Democrats did so in 2017 and 2005. But the intensity of Trump’s challenge is like nothing in the modern age, and a stream of current and elected GOP officials warn that the showdown is sowing distrust in the government and undermining Americans’ confidence in democracy.
“There is no constitutionally feasible way for Congress to reverse an election,” said Senator Tim Scott, RS.C., announcing on the eve of the session that he declined to participate.
Yet more than a dozen Republican senators led by Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ted Cruz of Texas, along with as many as 100 House Republicans, are busy objecting to the state results of Biden’s victory.
Under the rules of the Joint Assembly, any objection to the election of a state must be made in writing by at least one member of the House and one of the Senate for consideration. Each objection forces two hours of deliberation in the Chamber and Senate, which guarantees a long day.
House Republican lawmakers are objecting to election votes in six states: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Arizona will likely be the first to be disputed as state numbers are announced in alphabetical order, and Cruz has said he will join House Republicans to challenge that state.
Hawley has said he will object to the Pennsylvania election results, almost assuring him of a second two-hour debate, despite resistance from state Republican senator Pat Toomey, who said the sum of Biden’s victory is correct .
Senator Kelly Loeffler can challenge the results in her state of Georgia. But it’s unclear if any of the other senators will object to another state, as lawmakers were still devising a strategy.
Democrats hold the majority in the House, and the Republican-led Senate is split on the issue. Dual majorities in both chambers are expected to firmly reject the objections.
The group led by Cruz promises to object unless Congress agrees to form a committee to investigate the election, but that seems unlikely.
The ones with Cruz are Sens. Ron Johnson from Wisconsin, James Lankford from Oklahoma, Steve Daines from Montana, John Kennedy from Louisiana, Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee, Mike Braun from Indiana, Cynthia Lummis from Wyoming, Roger Marshall from Kansas, Bill Hagerty from Tennessee and Tommy Tuberville from Alabama.
Trump has vowed to “fight like hell” to stay in office. He said at a rally in Georgia that the voters who vote for Biden are “not going to take this White House!”
Many of the Republicans contesting the results said they are trying to give a vote to home voters who don’t trust the election outcome and who want lawmakers to fight for Trump.
Hawley defended his role, saying his voters were “loud and clear” about their distrust in the election. “It is my responsibility as a senator to voice their concerns,” he wrote to colleagues.
As criticism grew, Cruz insisted that his goal was “not to set aside the election,” but to investigate claims of voting problems. He has not provided any new evidence.
Both Hawley and Cruz are potential presidential candidates for 2024, vying for Trump support.
Lawmakers are being told by Capitol officials to arrive early due to security measures with protesters in Washington. Visitors, who typically fill the galleries to view historical events, are not allowed under COVID-19 restrictions.
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Associated Press writers Kevin Freking in Dalton, Georgia and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.