Ben Sasse: GOP senator plans Republicans to delay certification of Joe Biden’s victory

‘After having been in a private conversation with two dozen of my colleagues over the past few weeks, it seems helpful to explain in public why I’m not going to run a project to stop the election, and why I’m my colleagues also requested to reject this dangerous ploy, ”Sasse, the Republican senator from Nebraska, wrote in a six-part Facebook status late Wednesday night.

He added: “The president and his allies are playing with fire. They have asked – first the courts, then the legislators, now the Congress – to overthrow the results of a presidential election. They have called on judges unsuccessfully and are now ‘ calls on federal officials to invalidate millions and millions of votes. If you make big demands, it’s better for you to have the evidence. But the president does not vote and neither do the institutional arsonists of Congress who will object to the Electoral College. do not make. “

The occasional critic of President Donald Trump has claimed in his post that his Republican colleagues claimed the election was fraudulent for fear of the political setback of the president’s base.

“Speaking of private, I have not heard a single Republican claim that the election results were fraudulent – not one,” Sasse wrote. “Instead, I hear them talking about their concerns about how they will ‘look’ at President Trump’s most ardent supporters.”

Sasse’s post comes after Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley said Wednesday he would object when Congress votes next week in the Electoral College, which would force lawmakers in the House as well as the Senate to vote on whether Biden’s victory is accepted .

Hawley is the first senator to announce plans to object to the results, which is important because both a member of the House and a senator must file an objection when Congress counts the Electoral College on January 6th.

The objection will not change the outcome of the election, and will only delay the inevitable confirmation of Biden’s victory over Trump in November. Democrats will reject any objection in the House, and several Republican senators have argued against an objection that would provide a platform for Trump’s unfounded conspiracy theories claiming the election was stolen from him.

In his Facebook post, Sasse attacked Trump’s conspiracies – based on failed lawsuits by the Trump campaign in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Wisconsin and Georgia – and wrote that the president’s lawsuits were a ‘fundraising strategy’.

Sasse also noted that former Attorney General William Barr has said there is no evidence of widespread fraud in the presidential election.

“It’s not serious. It’s swampy politics – and it shows little respect for the sincere people in my state who write these checks,” Sasse wrote.

Sasse concluded his lengthy discussion with a discussion of the responsibility he feels for protecting American institutions at this time.

“Let’s be clear what’s going on here: we have a bunch of ambitious politicians who think there’s a quick way to use the president’s populist base without doing real long-term damage. But they’re wrong – and this issue is greater than anyone’s personal ambitions, ”Sasse wrote.

After Biden’s projected victory in November, Trump and his legal team for weeks stole more and more desperate appeals and unfounded conspiracy theories over his second term. His attack on the November election and his loss to Biden culminated in a shameless lawsuit filed by the Texas Attorney General and brought to the Supreme Court.

The case – filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a strong Trump ally, tried to sue Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia and Wisconsin, all of which did for Biden, and invalidate their election results.

The Supreme Court rejected the case that Trump promoted on Dec. 11, three days before the Electoral College met to cast votes for Biden as the winner of the November election.

Trump is now looking at next week’s certification of the results by Congress as his next opportunity to reverse the result, but the process – even if it is attracted by members of Congress who object to the results of the states – will inevitably ends with Biden’s entry into the White House on January 20th.

This story has been updated with additional background information.

CNN’s Jeremy Herb, Phil Mattingly, Lauren Fox and Joan Biskupic contributed to this report.

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