US President Donald Trump still does not admit his electoral defeat.
A group of Republican senators are planning a coup on January 6th.
Does this have any chance of success?
Update from January 3, 8:51 a.m.:
A group of Republican US Senators has announced
resistance to the confirmation of the result of the presidential election
by the US Congress.
At a meeting on Wednesday they want to call for the establishment of a commission of inquiry.
This is to carry out a ten-day check of the
election results
, as they announced on Saturday.
The declaration was signed by seven incumbent senators, including
Ted Cruz
, and four elected Senate members.
You spoke of alleged electoral fraud and irregularities.
Joe Biden's
election victory is to be
formally confirmed
at the joint session of the House of Representatives and the Senate
.
Republican Senator
Josh Hawley
from Missouri had previously announced that he would object to it.
Around a hundred members of the House of Representatives also want to refuse recognition to the Democrat Biden.
The initiatives could delay the final confirmation of Biden's victory, but they have no prospect of success.
Mitch McConnel
, Republican majority leader in the Senate, had already congratulated Biden on his election victory after the US electorate confirmed his victory over Donald Trump in mid-December.
McConnell urged his party colleagues to confirm Biden's victory at Wednesday's meeting.
2020 US election: planned coup on January 6th?
Vice Mike Pence apparently wants nothing to do with it
Update from January 1, 9:50 a.m.:
Vice President
Mike Pence
apparently does not want to have anything to do with the planned coup on January 6.
Several US media reports, including the
Washington Post
and
Politico
, that Pence has moved to deny a lawsuit aimed at expanding his powers.
Trump supporters had previously asked the vice-president not to certify the result of the election committee on January 6th.
As it became known,
Mike Pence
asked a court late Thursday to dismiss a lawsuit that could have expanded his power to stave off the hopes of Trump loyalists in the result of the
2020 US election
.
The vice said he was not the right person for it.
Republican
Louie Gohmert
from
Texas
and other members of the
Republican Party
from
Arizona
had filed such a lawsuit.
They argued that the Constitution stipulated that the Vice-President, as President of the Senate, would decide whether the results of the states are valid.
In fact, the Vice-President has a purely representative function on January 6th, when he
reads out
the results of the
electoral committee
.
President Trump can still be our President for FOUR MORE YEARS !!
It's all up to @VP Pence !!
- Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) January 1, 2021
Mike Pence: Vice apparently does not want to resist the US election - lawsuit wants to expand its power
According to the
Washington Post
, experts have said that the
constitution
about the powers of the vice-president in this part of the transfer of power is actually vague - but no party has ever tried to oppose it.
"The
Vice President
is not the right defendant for this lawsuit," wrote a senior lawyer on behalf of Pence.
He also argued that the lawsuit against Pence was a legal contradiction as it was the vice who should be empowered.
Mike Pence's
response
suggests that the vice-president has no plans to stick with Trump's claims of rigged election.
The
Republican
had already
been reluctant
in the weeks before
.
And plans to travel overseas in January following the transfer of power to
Joe Biden
.
If the court rejects the lawsuit directly, the political pressure from Trump supporters: inside on Pence would be less on January 6th.
Something that the vice obviously wants.
2020 US election result: Republicans want to resist - Senator Ben Sasse angry
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.
The results of the
US elections * will be
officially read out in Congress
on January 6th
.
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.