Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., on Wednesday became the first Republican senator to publicly say he will object to the certification of the presidential election results when a joint session of Congress meets in one week to formally certify President-elect Joe Biden‘s 306-232 Electoral College victory over President Trump.

Roughly a dozen Trump supporters in the House – led by Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama – have said they will challenge the slate of electors from six battleground states where Biden narrowly edged Trump in last month’s election. But the challenge of at least one senator is needed for both houses of Congress to debate the objections.

GROWING NUMBER OF HOUSE REPUBLICANS TO CHALLENGE BIDEN’S VICTORY OVER TRUMP

Hawley, a conservative lawmaker and Trump supporter, said in a release issued Wednesday that in his objection he’ll highlight what he said was the failure of some states – most notably Pennsylvania – to follow their own election laws. A number of states – including Pennsylvania – allowed for a greater use of absentee balloting due to serious health concerns over in-person voting at polling stations amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“I cannot vote to certify the electoral college results on January 6 without raising the fact that some states, particularly Pennsylvania, failed to follow their own state election laws,” the senator highlighted in a statement.

Hawley also charged, “I cannot vote to certify without pointing out the unprecedented effort of mega corporations, including Facebook and Twitter, to interfere in this election, in support of Joe Biden. At the very least, Congress should investigate allegations of voter fraud and adopt measures to secure the integrity of our elections. But Congress has so far failed to act.”

He pointed out that “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. They were praised by Democratic leadership and the media when they did. 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.”

PENCE APPARENTLY DOESN’T BACK LAWMAKER’S PLAN TO OBJECT TO ELECTION RESULTS

The president has repeatedly claimed he beat Biden, who topped the president by more than 7 million votes. Trump has charged that widespread voter fraud aided Biden’s victory. Trump has unsuccessfully urged states with GOP governors or Republican controlled legislatures to overturn Biden’s victories in their states. And dozens of legal challenges by the president and his allies have been shot down. Plus, Attorney General William Barr, who has since stepped down, said last month that his Justice Department has not seen fraud on the kind of scale that could flip the election. 

Trump met at the White House last week for a strategy session with some of the House Republicans who have said they will object to the election certification.

Senate GOP leaders are against this effort to challenge Biden’s win, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recognizing the former vice president’s victory, and behind closed doors urging Senate Republicans not to contest the election results.

But with Hawley joining the small group of House Republicans in objecting, the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 would be dissolved and the House and Senate would then meet separately for two hours to debate a contested state’s electoral vote.

US DOWN A RABBIT HOLE OF QUESTIONING ELECTION INTEGRITY

Each body would then vote whether to accept or reject that state’s slate of electoral votes. Then the House and Senate reconvene in the joint session. The last time this happened (and only the second time in U.S. history) was in January 2005, following President’ George W. Bush’s narrow reelection victory over Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts. One Senate Democrat – Sen. Barbara Boxer of California – and one House Democrat – Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones – objected. In 2017, a handful of House Democrats objected to Trump’s victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, but no Senate Democrats joined them.

A state’s slate of electoral votes would only tossed if both the House and Senate vote to do so.

But with the Democrats controlling the House and most Senate Republicans not expected to back the push to contest the results, it’s extremely unlikely there would be enough votes to reject any state’s certification.

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While Hawley is the first GOP senator to say he’d object to the certification, Senator-elect Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas could potentially join their colleague from Missouri.

Fox News Marisa Schultz and Tyler Olson contributed to this story.

Insurgent Democrat presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg acknowledged at the Fox News town hall in Claremont, New Hampshire Sunday evening that he needs to do more to appeal to “black and brown” voters, even as he confidently parried a series of policy questions — and, on several occasions, went directly after President Trump.

Buttigieg argued that minority voters are “skeptical of people who seem to come out of nowhere,” after moderator Chris Wallace noted that he was polling at one-percent support among nonwhite primary voters according to a recent Fox News poll.

On fiscal policy, Buttigieg pushed for four distinct tax hikes when asked about the deficit, saying he favored a “fairer, which means higher” marginal income tax, a “reasonable” wealth tax “or something like that,” a financial transactions tax, and closing “corporate tax loopholes.”

“You don’t blow a hole in the budget with an unnecessary and unaffordable tax cut for the very wealthiest,” Buttigieg told Wallace, referring to President Trump’s tax legislation.

PETE BUTTIGIEG TOWN HALL WITH FOX NEWS: AS IT HAPPENED

With little equivocating, Buttigieg largely stuck to reminding voters of his core campaign pledges, and the lessons he learned from his six-month deployment to Afghanistan in 2014: “We do not send young men and women to war when there’s an alternative,” he emphasized.

Throughout, Buttigieg repeatedly drew applause — even when he defended his calls to abolish the Electoral College, a move that would gut New Hampshire’s influence in selecting the next president.

“States don’t vote, people vote,” Buttigieg said. He added that “if we’re going to call ourselves a democracy,” the U.S. should move to a popular vote system.

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Responding to the newly passed pro-life legislation passed in Alabama, as well as similar bills making their way through other state legislatures, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana told Wallace that “abortion is a national right.”

Asked about third-trimester abortions, Buttigieg asserted that such cases were rare and typically involved an unforeseen circumstance, before refusing to endorse any restrictions whatsoever on late-term abortions. Government statistics indicate that in 2015, approximately 1.3 percent of abortions were performed after 20 weeks.

“I trust women to draw the line,” Buttigieg said. “That decision [to have an abortion] is not going to be made any better, medically or morally, because the government is dictating how that decision should be made.”

Vice President Joe Biden is now the clear front-runner in the crowded Democrat Party primary field, but Buttigieg indicated that the long odds didn’t faze him.

“There’s a lot of us running for president on the Democratic side, but I think it’s safe to say I’m not like the others,” Buttigieg told Wallace, noting that seeking the presidency is inherently “audacious” — especially given that he would be the youngest person to ever become president.

“I would say being a mayor in a city of any size in America right now is about as relevant as it gets,” Buttigieg added.

TRUMP TELLS ANTI-ABORTION ACTIVISTS TO STAY UNITED IN 2020

Buttigieg suggested he isn’t too worried about his likely Republican opponent after the primary, either.

“The tweets are — I don’t care,” Buttigieg to raucous applause at one point, referring to Trump’s Twitter posts, including some that mocked Buttigieg.

“It’s a great way to command attention,” Wallace said.

“It’s a great way to command attention from the media,” Buttigieg countered.

In a closing lightning-round of questions, Buttigieg downplayed his comments during a radio interview on Friday, in which he called for removing Thomas Jefferson’s name from buildings and events like the Democratic Party’s annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner.

“You would have thought I would proposed blowing up the Jefferson Memorial in D.C.,” Buttigieg joked, noting that his campaign headquarters is on a street named for Jefferson.

Buttigieg also cited the HBO show “Game of Thrones” as one of his “guilty pleasures,” noting that the finale would be televised shortly after the conclusion of the town hall.

Ultimately, Buttigieg received a standing ovation after delivering his closing remarks.

“Look, what we’re trying to do here is different,” Buttigieg began, as the the town hall wrapped up. “Because the moment that we’re in is different. I get that a millennial, midwestern mayor is not what leaps to mind when you think about a prototypical candidate for president. But I also think we’re living — if it’s hard to figure out what’s going on right now, it’s because we are living on one of those blank pages in between chapters of American history. And what comes next could be ugly or it could be amazing.”

Buttigieg continued: “And I believe running for office is an act of hope, and so is voting for somebody, and supporting somebody and volunteering for somebody. I hope you’ll join me in making sure that that next era is better than any we’ve had so far.”

Before the town hall, Buttigieg took stock of his campaign’s unexpectedly strong position early in the race.

“We were expecting at this stage of the game to still be introducing ourselves and even defending the idea that something this audacious was appropriate,” Buttigieg told Fox News. “Instead we find that we’ve bolted into the top tier.”

In an email to supporters Saturday night, Buttigieg defended his decision to appear at the Fox town hall, as progressives have increasingly pushed for Democrats to appear only on left-leaning networks. On Sunday, Trump himself took aim at Buttigieg’s appearance at the town hall, saying it was “hard to believe” Fox had hosted the candidate.

“If we ignore the viewers of Fox News and every news platform that doesn’t share our worldview, we will surrender our ability to speak directly to millions of American voters,” Buttigieg asserted. “If we don’t show up, the conservative media will tell our side of the story for us.”

Separately, Trump told Fox News’ “The Next Revolution with Steve Hilton” in an interview to air Sunday that “I think it’s absolutely fine” that Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten, are open about their relationship on the campaign trail.

Trump agreed with Hilton that Buttigieg’s candidacy is a sign of progress for the country.

“I think that’s something that perhaps some people will have a problem with,” Trump said. “I have no problem with it whatsoever. I think it’s good.”

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During his 2016 campaign, Trump suggested he’d appoint conservative justices to overturn a Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage. But he called the issue “settled” shortly after his election.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Former White House Press Secretary and Fox News contributor Kayleigh McEnany told “The Story” on Monday that she warned the press corps in the final days of the Trump administration that the suddenly rare appearances by Donald Trump would be a primer for how the Biden administration would interact with the media.

MCENANY: I actually warned some of the reporters there in the press corps. In the waning days of the Trump administration, he didn’t do as much press availabilities every day as he walked to [Marine One] or those press conferences. 

I said to the correspondents, ‘You’re getting a little taste of what it will be like in the Biden administration.’ I said I wouldn’t expect to see much of him. We haven’t. We’re still waiting on that solo press conference, we’re still waiting for the day, apparently by the end of the month.

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