US President Donald Trump still does not admit his electoral defeat.
For January 6th, with the help of a few Republicans, he now seems to be planning a special coup.
Update from December 31, 6:31 p.m.:
On January 6, when the election results of the
US election are
officially read out, a few of
Donald Trump's
party colleagues want to
resist
(see first report)
.
Basically a continuation of the unproven claims of massive election fraud to the last minute.
The Republican Senator
Ben Sasse
doesn't find this funny at all and ventilates his anger in a 2204 word long post on Facebook.
He emphasizes that he will not take part.
In the statement he describes the planned objection in the
congress session
as a "dangerous trick".
He knows that there is a constitutional way of doing this, but is it wise to use it here?
“Absolutely not,” is Sasse's verdict.
He sees no basis for the electoral fraud accounts: “Not a single state is legally dubious.
But since I wasn't a
Trump voter in
2016 or 2020
(I wrote Mike Pence in both elections), I understand that many Trump supporters don't want to listen to me. "
Sasse also spoke directly to the six decisive US states *.
For Pennsylvania, for example, he stated: "The Trump team is right that a lot has gone wrong." Specifically, the Senator mentioned the change in the deadlines for postal votes.
But Biden's lead in the state is so huge that even rejected postal votes * could not change anything.
In internal discussions, he had heard "not a single"
Republican
in Congress have any doubts about the election result.
Sasse also gives one reason why, in his opinion, Trump's team was
unable to achieve any notable success in
court
: “Because there are no penalties for misleading the
public
.
However, there are severe penalties for misleading a judge, and the president's lawyers know it. ”He is very clear:“ This is not a legal strategy, but a
fundraising
strategy
. ”Since Election Day, the president and his allies have“ got far raised over half a billion (billion!) dollars from followers ”.
This number cannot be verified - it has been circulating in the media for a long time.
Sasse continues: “There is
electoral fraud
in every election cycle
- and the fact that the media flatly declares that there is no fraud has made things worse.
It has increased public suspicion as there are indeed documented cases of electoral fraud in every election cycle. ”But that little evidence of fraud would not be enough to
contest
Joe Biden's
election victory
.
USA: Official election result on January 6th - Trump camp may be planning disruptive action
First report from December 31, 4:16 p.m .:
Washington - “6.
January - see you in Washington “- the tweet in
Donald Trump's *
profile
is a bit cryptic
.
Written in capital letters, however, it could also be read as a threat.
On January 6, the results of the
US elections * will be
officially read out in Congress.
There are increasing signs that Trump, with the support of some
Republicans *,
intends to disrupt the reading.
It looks like this plan could work too.
JANUARY SIXTH, SEE YOU IN DC!
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 30, 2020
Donald Trump * surprisingly left Florida for Washington.
Observers take this as an indication that he would like to continue his plan in the US city - and even skip the planned New Year's Eve party in
Mar-a-Lago
*.
Election result in the US Congress: MPs and senators can force deliberation before the result becomes official
Only when the result has been
read out
in the
US Congress
is it considered official.
But if at least one MP and one Senator object to the result, deliberations must take place in the Senate.
There have been only two protests on this occasion in US history since 1887: in 1969 and 2005.
In 2005, a deputy and a senator appealed against the election result.
In the end, the same result was announced that had previously been announced:
George W. Bush
was declared the winner - the protest had only caused a delay.
Objection in Congress: Republican Senator plans to openly address doubts about election results
"Millions of voters are concerned about the accuracy of the election results - they deserve to be heard," writes Republican Senator Josh Hawley.
"I will appeal on your behalf." He would like to emphasize once again his view that especially in Pennsylvania * "the federal electoral laws were not obeyed".
There was also a massive influence in social networks in favor of
Joe Biden *
.
Millions of voters concerned about election integrity deserve to be heard.
I will object on January 6 on their behalf pic.twitter.com/kTaaPPJGHE
- Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) December 30, 2020
For some time now, Trump's Republicans in the House of Representatives * have been planning to wreak havoc at the reading with an objection.
Thanks to Senator Hawley, the important prerequisite has now been met: Congress will probably have to discuss the
election result
on Tuesday
.
(kat)
* Merkur.de is part of the Germany-wide Ippen-Digital editors network.