In a blistering Facebook post on Congress’ role in counting the votes of the Electoral College, Sen. Ben Sasse denounced efforts by President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the presidential election results as a “dangerous ploy.”
The Nebraska Republican gave a lengthy analysis of Trump’s claims of election fraud, saying there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud that would put President-elect Joe Biden’s win in doubt.
“For President-Elect Biden’s 306-232 Electoral College victory to be overturned, President Trump would need to flip multiple states. But not a single state is in legal doubt,” Sasse wrote.
Sasse’s comments come as several Republican lawmakers have indicated they plan to contest the certification of Biden as the winner when Congress holds a joint session on Jan. 6.
Though the effort is doomed to fail, a faction of conservative House Republicans, led by Mo Brooks, R-Ala., have already said they will object to electoral votes from some battleground states that Biden won, such as Pennsylvania and Georgia.
“The president and his allies are playing with fire. They have been asking – first the courts, then state legislatures, now the Congress – to overturn the results of a presidential election,” said Sasse. “If you make big claims, you had better have the evidence. But the president doesn’t and neither do the institutional arsonist members of Congress who will object to the Electoral College vote.”
On Wednesday, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said he would join the effort, ensuring that both chambers will need to debate and hold a vote on the issue.
Sasse said those were the actions of “ambitious politicians who think there’s a quick way to tap into the president’s populist base without doing any real, long-term damage.”
The senator, who has emerged as one of the more vocal critics of Trump in a party that is staunchly loyal to the president, warned that the effort amounts to pointing a “loaded gun at the heart of legitimate self-government.”
“We ought to be better than that. If we normalize this, we’re going to turn American politics into a Hatfields and McCoys endless blood feud – a house hopelessly divided,” he said.
Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2021/01/01/ben-sasse-denounces-dangerous-ploy-overturn-election/4106964001/
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