Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) said President Donald Trump and House Republicans held a call to discuss their objection to the Electoral College vote during the Jan. 6 Joint Session of Congress, suggesting their fight is gaining steam.
Brooks said that at least 50 lawmakers, including Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and Trump himself were present during the meeting. He did not say what other House lawmakers were on the call.
Brooks said he believes many more House lawmakers will join the bid. However, he noted that whether the House will reach a simple majority to reject a state’s election results is not yet clear.
“In my judgment, the primary reason so many congressmen and senators are now coming forward to fight this fight is because so many American citizens have made it known that this fight is critical to America’s future,” Brooks said. The Alabama Republican has, for several weeks now, said he would challenge key states’ electoral votes.
His comments came as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and 11 other senators said they would object to the electoral votes.
“America is a Republic whose leaders are chosen in democratic elections. Those elections, in turn, must comply with the Constitution and with federal and state law,” the group wrote in a joint statement on Saturday. “When the voters fairly decide an election, pursuant to the rule of law, the losing candidate should acknowledge and respect the legitimacy of that election,“ adding that also, ”if the voters choose to elect a new office-holder, our Nation should have a peaceful transfer of power.”
“The election of 2020, like the election of 2016, was hard fought and, in many swing states, narrowly decided,” the group said. “The 2020 election, however, featured unprecedented allegations of voter fraud, violations, and lax enforcement of election law, and other voting irregularities.”
Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) said they would join Cruz’s challenge. Sens.-elect Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) also plan on joining.
Those senators said they would object to states’ electoral votes unless an emergency, 10-day audit is carried out to review allegations of election fraud.
It came just a few days after Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) announced that he would essentially become the first senator to join the House-led effort. The bid requires at least one senator and a representative to carry out, and it would trigger a two-hour debate per contested state.
After the debate, the House and Senate would then vote on certifying the results of a state and objections would require a simple majority in both chambers. If there isn’t enough support for an objection, they will be dismissed and the existing results will be finalized.
Some Republican senators and lawmakers have criticized the efforts. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) over the weekend said the move is unwise, asserting, “The congressional power to reject electors is reserved for the most extreme and unusual circumstances. These are far from it. More Americans participated in this election than ever before, and they made their choice.”
From a tactical standpoint, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the Senate Majority Whip, said their bid would go “down like a shot dog.”
