WASHINGTON (NewsNation Now) — President Donald Trump’s claims that he won an election he actually lost has drawn the support of numerous Republican lawmakers who have embraced his arguments that voter fraud and irregularities did him in. But not all Republicans are buying it.
The streets of Washington are expected to draw the most ardent members of the Trump base who the president has encouraged to come and protest the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College triumph. There is some concern that the gathering could even provoke violence. And Washington’s mayor has activated hundreds of national guardsmen to keep the peace.
But a fight of a different kind is already underway inside the Capitol itself — among Republicans.
Many, like congressman Barry Moore (R-Ala.) say the election is not over.
“In my district, they want me to fight for the president,” he said.
Even though it was the same election that returned him to Congress, Moore says the contest for president was rigged and must be investigated.
“It’s about every election the next generation is going to see come across the ballot box. We have to make sure it’s fair and free,” he said.
Moore and Congressman Ron Estes are two of more than a hundred Republicans in the House who say they will object to the electoral vote count from states Joe Biden won.
“We want to object to states where there was such massive fraud,” said Estes.
And while Republican-appointed judges, Republican-controlled legislatures, Republican election officials, and even the attorney general of the United States have all said they have seen no evidence of such fraud, Kansas Republican Senator Roger Marshall says he’ll join about a dozen senators in objecting.
“I want that 2-hour debate with everyone in the room and the facts on the table,” said Marshall.
The debate is unlikely to change the outcome since both houses of Congress would have to go along.
Liz Cheney — the third-ranking Republican in the House and the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney — reminded her colleagues of the courts’ rejection of the president’s arguments, saying any attempt by Congress to override the will of voters sets “an exceptionally dangerous precedent.”
The talk of setting up a commission to investigate fraud that Senator Ted Cruz of Texas is advocating “is even more problematic,” Cheney wrote. “Did those proposing a new commission realize that they were in essence proposing to delay the inaugural?”
Republican Senators Mitt Romney of Utah, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and others all oppose objecting. Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton said this about those fighting on.
“The founders entrusted the election of our president to the people, acting through the Electoral College — not Congress. And they entrusted adjudication of election disputes to the courts — not Congress.”
The president on Monday tweeted that such Republicans were part of what he called the “surrender caucus.”
Vice President Mike Pence is supposed to preside over Wednesday’s joint session of Congress and the Electoral College roll call.
If he follows tradition, he will announce the results and confirm that Joe Biden won. However, he has yet to say what he will do.
“I know we all have our doubts about the last election and I want to assure you, I share the concerns of millions of Americans about voting irregularities,” Pence said in Georgia Monday. “I promise you come this Wednesday, we’ll have our day in Congress.”