Mr. McConnell’s allies said that he would honor the election outcome come January, but did not want to pick a fight with Mr. Trump now, for fear of damaging Republicans’ chances in a pair of January Senate runoff elections in Georgia that will decide control of the chamber. He is also concerned, they said, that doing so could jeopardize a string of year-end legislative priorities that will require the president’s signature, including a catchall spending measure and the stimulus package to address the continuing toll of the pandemic.
But the effect has been that the most powerful Republican on Capitol Hill has, by intention or inaction, left unchecked insidious claims by Mr. Trump and those backing him undermining faith in the democratic process and Mr. Biden’s legitimacy as president.
One by one on Monday, many of Mr. McConnell’s closest allies, including most of his leadership team, began to break ranks.
“I think he is president-elect, subject to whatever additional litigation is ongoing,” said Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the former second-ranking Republican, referring to Mr. Biden as the winner of the election for the first time. “I’m not aware of any.”
Mr. Cornyn sought to discourage members of his own party from challenging the electoral results further when Congress meets in a joint session in early January to tally and finalize the outcome.
“That would be a bad mistake,” he said. “I think there comes a time when you have to realize that despite your best efforts, you’ve been unsuccessful. It’s sort of the nature of these elections. You’ve got to have a winner and you’ve got to have a loser.”
Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the longest-serving Republican, captured the grudging acceptance of many of his colleagues after the Electoral College action when asked by a reporter if he now considered Mr. Biden the president-elect.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/14/us/politics/republicans-electoral-college.html
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