Published 14:05 IST, January 3rd 2021
Republican senators refuse to certify Joe Biden as electoral winner ahead of Congress meet
A growing number of Republican lawmakers are now joining embattled Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the results of Presidential elections held in 2020.
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A growing number of Republican lawmakers are now joining embattled President Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the results of Presidential elections held in November 2020. With the just three days left for the Congress to formally meet and count electoral college votes, 11 senators have said that they would refuse to certify Joe Biden’s victory unless a commission is set to investigate alleged voter fraud. Led by Republican Ted Cruz, the group has demanded at least a 10-day delay in the announcement to allow the future commission to audit the unsubstantiated allegations.
Meanwhile, another Republican senator Mitch McConnell, who has been at loggerheads with Trump, has urged his party members to refrain from trying to overturn the “free and fair’ elections. The Republican senators include Senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Steve Daines of Montana, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Mike Braun of Indiana, and Sens.-elect Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, none of who presented any new evidence to nullify the results of the presidential vote which showed Biden win by 306 to Trump’s 232.
Democrats call it a 'publicity stunt'
In the aftermath, Mike Gwin, the spokesman for Biden’s transition team denounced the Republican effort, calling it a ‘publicity stunt’ that won’t change the fact that Joe Biden would swear in as 46th President of US on January 20. Reiterating his stance, Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota opined that Republican effort to create a federal commission "to supersede state certifications" is wrong. "It is undemocratic. It is un-American. And fortunately, it will be unsuccessful. In the end, democracy will prevail," she asserted.
On November 12, Biden concreted his electoral win by securing a majority in Arizona after already emerging a winner in the popular vote by over 5 million. However, Trump who is finding the electoral math difficult to digest has blatantly termed the elections as fraudulent. Not only has the President spent months making unsubstantiated claims that mail-in ballots could lead to rigged elections, but his campaign has also filed over 50 lawsuits against the same.
14:04 IST, January 3rd 2021