WASHINGTON – Nebraska Republican Senator Ben Sasse has sharply rebuked the GOP’s attempts to object to the presidential election board on Jan. 6, warning colleagues about a “dangerous trick” that will affect the country’s bourgeois traditions. could harm.
Sasse, a potential presidential candidate in 2024, posted a comprehensive explanation of his views on social media on Thursday, including a paragraph by paragraph dismantling of allegations of voter fraud won in key states by President-elect Joe Biden. Sasse said he felt compelled to speak “ truth ” as voters and those who supported President Donald Trump wanted to know where he stands on the matter.
“I will not participate in any project to reverse the elections,” Sasse wrote. He said he wanted to explain “why I urged my colleagues to reject this dangerous trick too.”
Trump, the first president to lose a reelection bid in nearly 30 years, has attributed his defeat to widespread voter fraud, despite impartial election officials saying there was none. He has pushed Republican senators to pursue his baseless allegations, even though the electoral college confirmed Biden’s 306-232 victory this month and multiple legal attempts to challenge the results have failed.
Sasse’s message offers the Republican Party a different path for the post-Trump era, in stark contrast to other Republicans – most notably Senator Josh Hawley, R-Mo. – leading the challenge at next week’s joint congressional meeting.
Hawley became the first GOP senator this week to announce that he will object when Congress meets to confirm Biden’s victory in the election, forcing votes from the House and Senate likely to finalize the certification of the victory. Biden will slow down – but not change in any way.
Other Republican senators are expected to join Hawley, wary of putting him in the spotlight as they too try to emerge as leaders in a post-Trump era.
Some Republicans in the majority Democratic house have already said they will object on Trump’s behalf during the January 6 count of election votes, and they would have only needed one senator to go with them to enforce votes in both houses.
Sasse focused on the “swampy” nature of Trump’s election challenge fundraising while outlining his reasons for believing Biden’s election victory to be valid.
“Since election day, the president and his allied organizations have raised more than half a billion (billion!) Dollars from supporters who have believed they are contributing to a fierce legal defense,” Sasse wrote. “But in reality, they usually give the president and his allies a blank check that can go to their super PACs, their next flight, their next campaign or project. That is not serious government. It’s swampy politics. “
He put the election challenges being pursued by Trump’s legal team in Nebraska terms.
Sasse wrote that he could not ‘simply claim that the College Football Playoff selection committee is’ on the run’ because they did not send the Cornhuskers to the Rose Bowl, and after that – after I failed to show that anyone on the selection committee corrupt – suppose we need to investigate because of these pervasive ‘allegations’ of corruption. “
With 160 million votes nationwide, there will be some instances of fraud, he said, but nothing of the magnitude to reverse the election.
“We have good reason to believe that this year’s election was fair, safe and law-abiding,” Sasseh wrote. That doesn’t mean it was flawless. But there is no conclusive basis for wholly suspicious of our elections, or for concluding that the results do not match the votes actually cast by our fellow citizens. “
Without providing details or evidence, Hawley said on Wednesday that he would object because “some states, including Pennsylvania in particular,” did not follow their own electoral laws. Some states have changed their election procedures, such as expanding absenteeism, to accommodate voters during the coronavirus pandemic, the worst public health emergency in the US in a century. Lawsuits against Biden’s Pennsylvania victory have been unsuccessful.
“At the very least, Congress should investigate allegations of voter fraud and take steps to ensure the integrity of our elections,” Hawley said in a statement. He also criticized the way Facebook and Twitter handled content related to the election, calling it an attempt to help Biden.
Jen Psaki, a spokesman for the Biden transition team, dismissed Hawley’s move as “antics” that will not affect Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
“The American people spoke wholeheartedly in this election and 81 million people voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” Psaki said in a call to reporters.
Trump cut short his Florida vacation to return to Washington on Thursday, a day earlier than expected, for reasons not explained by the White House.
When Congress meets to certify the results of the electoral college, any legislator can object to a state’s votes for any reason. However, the objection will only be considered if it has been drawn up in writing and signed by both a member of the House and a member of the Senate.
If there is such a request, the joint session will be adjourned and the House and Senate will enter separate sessions to consider it. For the objection to be accepted, both chambers must agree with a simple majority of votes. If they disagree, the original electoral votes are counted.
As President of the Senate, Vice President Mike Pence will chair the January 6 session and declare the winner.
Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Had asked his caucus not to participate in a futile quest to reverse the results.
A series of impartial election officials and Republicans have confirmed that there was no fraud in the November contest that would alter the results of the election. That includes former Attorney General William Barr, who said he saw no reason to appoint special counsel to investigate the president’s allegations about the 2020 election. He resigned last week.
Trump and his allies have filed about 50 lawsuits against the election results, and almost all of them have been dismissed or dropped. He has also lost twice in the US Supreme Court.
The House Republicans group has said it plans to challenge the election results from Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada. They are all states that Biden wore.
———
Aamer Madhani, Associated Press writer in Chicago, contributed to this report.