Trump allies in Congress to challenge election results: report

A group of House Republicans is planning one last attempt to reverse the results of the election and keep President Trump in the White House by challenging the Electoral College vote tally as it is counted by Congress and certified by the vice president on Jan. 6.

According to The New York Times, the new strategy is being spearheaded by Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) and involves challenging the election results in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia and Wisconsin, all states that Joe Biden won and where some Republicans have baselessly claimed voter fraud and illegal voting took place.

In an interview with the Times, Brooks said, “We have a superior role under the Constitution than the Supreme Court does, than any federal court judge does, than any state court judge does.”

“What we say, goes. That’s the final verdict,” Brooks added.

The Times noted that the long-shot effort from the GOP members to reverse the election would put Vice President Pence, who has the constitutional duty to declare a winner, in a tough spot. 

“The role the V.P. plays in the transition is something that people have never focused on and never think about, but with Donald Trump, you now have to consider all the possibilities,” Gregory Craig, an Obama-era White House counsel, told the newspaper.

The Times noted that former Vice Presidents Richard Nixon and Al Gore certified elections results in which they lost, even though Gore was pressured to reject the highly contested 2000 presidential outcome. 

The Electoral College is expected to gather on Monday and elect Biden as the next president. As the Times noted, though Pence will be reluctant to declare Biden as the winner, doing otherwise could endanger his political future as he plans his career after the White House.

The Electoral Count Act of 1887 requires challenges to be submitted with a senator’s signature, the Times noted, but so far no GOP senators have explicitly said they would go along with such a plan in the House. Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wyo.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) have reportedly indicated that they are open to it.

However, even if this action is successful, it would still require the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives and the GOP-controlled Senate to both agree to disqualify the results, an outcome that is nearly impossible, the newspaper noted.

The Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) last week that sought to overturn the results of the election in four battleground states. The suit was supported by 17 other attorneys general in GOP-controlled states and 126 House Republicans.