Trump legal adviser Jenna Ellis said on Tuesday that her team plans to continue its investigation into the handling of the 2020 general election beyond Jan. 6, the date when Congress counts the electoral college votes.
“Long term, this absolutely doesn’t end January 6 because this should never ever, ever happen again, throughout the course of America’s history.”
She said that although Jan. 6 is the date of “ultimate significance” stipulated by the U.S. Supreme Court, it is necessary to continue with their election challenges in order to protect the integrity of elections for years to come.
“The Democrats from start to finish used the pandemic in order to remove election safeguards. They’ve manipulated some of the laws,” Ellis said. “We have to go back, if you care, no matter what party, I hope my friends who are Democrats would agree with me, that election integrity matters.”
“If you care that an election is not stolen in any way, shape, or form, and you care about our system and our Constitution, you will care that we have the appropriate safeguards that are in place.”
Ellis said that state legislators in all 50 states should convene before the next election cycle to explore whether misconduct had occurred in the 2020 election and whether the necessary voter protections are in place.
“Before the midterms, before the next election cycle, we have two years to straighten things out and to say, you know what, they may have done this now, but we’re never gonna let it happen again,” she said.
The election challenges filed by the Trump legal team over the past few weeks allege that a significant proportion of votes were cast and counted under allegedly fraudulent circumstances or in violation of state election codes and the U.S. Constitution. Many of the lawsuits seek to invalidate possible “illegal” ballots that were cast following last-minute rule changes by election officials.
Allegations about election fraud have been repeatedly denied by leading election officials, while critics and members of the media have characterized the claims as “baseless.” So far, a large proportion of cases filed have been thrown out by judges for procedural reasons, including by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Republican lawmakers are also joining the “fight” by building a strategy to challenge the Electoral College votes during the Jan. 6 congressional joint session.
Several House members have vowed to launch challenges to prevent Congress from counting the slate of electoral votes for Democratic nominee Joe Biden in several contested states.
So far, there have been no senators who have publicly committed to challenging a state’s results. A handful of Republican senators haven’t ruled out the possibility of objecting but have said that they would first monitor the developments regarding claims of voter fraud. Meanwhile, Sen.-elect Tommy Tuberville (R.-Ala) has suggested that he may join the planned objection by members of the House of Representatives.
