Kelly Loeffler wouldn't say Sunday whether she will join the 'dirty dozen' Republican senators planning to block Congress from certifying the election for Joe Biden on January 6 – as Donald Trump pushes claims at least 40,000 Georgia votes weren't counted for him.
'I've said from the start, everything is on the table here, and I'm seriously looking at that,' Loeffler told 'Fox News Sunday' host Brett Baier when asked about Senator Ted Cruz leading an effort by 12 senators to challenge the Electoral College results.
Trump continued pushing on Sunday morning a disputed claim that thousands of Georgia votes were flipped from him to Joe Biden in the presidential election and another 30,000 were completely removed.
'Georgia election data, just revealed, shows that over 17,000 votes illegally flipped from Trump to Biden.' @OANN This alone (there are many other irregularities) is enough to easily 'swing Georgia to Trump'. #StopTheSteal @HawleyMO @SenTedCruz @Jim_Jordan', Trump posted to Twitter.
Data scientists testified Wednesday that Georgia's election data shows more than 30,000 votes were removed from Trump and another 12,173 were switched to Biden, the Epoch Times reported Saturday.
The data, however, is not new – and has been debunked by two separate recounts in Georgia since the election on November 3.
This isn't stopping several Republican lawmakers from launching an effort to dispute Electoral College votes in Georgia and four other swing states that went blue in 2020.
Trump loyalist and Georgia Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler was non committal about whether she would join a dozen other GOP senators in a plan to block Congress from certifying the election for Joe Biden
'Well, I'm looking very, very closely at it, and I've been one of the first to say, everything is on the table,' Loeffler fold Fox's Brett Baier two days before the Georgia runoff elections that will decide her fate and that of which party controls the Senate
Loeffler's comments and the Georgia runoffs comes as President Donald Trump continues to push disputed claims that thousands of votes were not counted correctly for him in Georgia
A dozen senators said they would join a handful of GOP representatives to challenge the results, and Vice President Mike Pence, who will oversee the joint session meant to certify the election this week, finally embraced the idea over the weekend.
The senators who joined the effort are hoping to establish a commission to determine who gets the Electoral College votes, rather than just outright seeking to overturn the election in favor of a second Trump term.
The commission would kick start an independent investigation of those states' elections being challenged.
The same steps were taken in the 1876 election, paving the way for Rutherford B. Hayes to become president.
'We should follow that precedent,' Cruz and 10 other current and incoming senators said in a joint statement, referring to that race.
'To wit, Congress should immediately appoint an Electoral Commission, with full investigatory and fact-finding authority, to conduct an emergency 10-day audit of the election returns in the disputed states,' the statement continued. 'Once completed, individual states would evaluate the commission's findings and could convene a special legislative session to certify a change in their vote, if needed.'
Republican Ron Johnson, who is one of the dozen senators on board with the plan, had a confrontational interview with NBC's 'Meet the Press' host Chuck Todd in defending creating a commission.
'We are not acting to thwart the democratic process — we are acting to protect it,' the Wisconsin senator said Sunday morning.
'The fact of the matter is we have an unsustainable state of affairs in this country where we have tens of millions of people who do not view this election result as legitimate,' Johnson continued.
Johnson claimed that the effort to create a commission to probe the electoral process in several key states is a way to restore confidence in the Democratic process.
'As long as somebody is going to be objecting to this and we're going to take a vote, let's propose a solution in terms of transparency, investigation, with a commission,' he said.
Senator Ron Johnson, one of the Republicans challegning the results and pushing for a commission to probe the election, said the effort is to help restore faith in the Democratic process of elections in the U.S.
Wisconsin is a rust belt swing state that went blue this year for Biden.
When asked which candidate won in his state, Johnson said: 'Vice President Biden has won by 20,000 votes, but there are also issues in Wisconsin.'
Loeffler, however, is less committal than her colleagues about challenging the election results.
'Well, I'm looking very, very closely at it, and I've been one of the first to say, everything is on the table,' the Georgia Republican senator reiterated in a Fox News interview. 'I'm fighting for this president because he's fought for us. He's our president and we are going to keep making sure that this is a fair election and I'm looking very closely at it.'
The Trump loyalist, however, did not outright say if she would join the Trump-endorsed effort – despite having a 100 per cent voting record in line with the president.
She also refused to cast a vote last week where the Senate overturned Trump's veto of the National Defense Authorization Act, and wouldn't say when pushed on the matter which way she would have voted if she showed up.
Loeffler is trying not to sway too far from the president just two days before her runoff election against Democrat Reverend Raphael Warnock – one of two Georgia elections on January 5 that will decide control of the Senate.
'Look, I stood with the president 100 percent of the time,' Loeffler told Baier, who was filling in for 'Fox News Sunday' host Chris Wallace. 'He's putting America first.'
She said she didn't turn out for the NDAA vote because she was too busy campaigning in Georgia for her runoff on January 5.
'Understanding the campaigning is important, if you're saying how important this election is on January 5th, but obviously, Georgia is a big defense state, current and former military here, defense business here,' Baier said. 'How would you have voted had you voted on that veto override?'
'Well, look, I voted to support the NDAA,' she said of her previous vote on the matter before Trump's veto. 'The bill that came out of conference was very different from what we've been promised. So, I don't know.'
'Right, but you would have sustained the veto, the president's veto on the NDAA' Baier pushed.
Loeffler again dodged the question.
'I won't belabor it but that's not a 'yes' or 'no' whether you would sustain the veto or not,' Baier clarified.
Loeffler shot back: 'That's right.'
The Senate voted 81-13 to overturn Trump's veto of the Defense funding legislation – making that the first veto override of his presidency.
Marc Short, Pence's chief of staff, issued a statement Saturday saying the VP 'shares the concerns of millions of Americans about voter fraud and irregularities in the last election.'
'(Pence) welcomes the efforts of members of the House and Senate to use the authority they have under the law to raise objections and bring forward evidence before the Congress and the American people on Jan. 6th', the statement continued.
Pence gave the plot his backing just hours after Ted Cruz said he would be among the 12 GOP Senators trying to block the certification.
Vice President Mike Pence, who will oversee the joint session to certify the election results, said this weekend that he will support the bid by a dozen Republican Senators to overturn Joe Biden's election win in Congress next week
Dozens of Republicans also reportedly participated in a conference call with President Trump and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows Saturday night to discuss the plan to reject Electoral College votes.
Congressman Mo Brooks of Alabama tweeted that he and Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio lead a call with '50+ congressmen who join & fight for America's republic.
'Our fight for honest & accurate elections gains momentum,' Brooks said.
Twelve Republicans have now said they will vote to reject the electors on January 6, after Missouri Senator Josh Hawley became the first to announce his intentions this week to challenge the result.
In a statement on Saturday with ten more GOP senators, Cruz demanded the appointment of an emergency commission to conduct a 10-day audit of the election returns in 'disputed states'.
Until such a commission is appointed, they vowed to intend to vote on January 6 to reject the electors from those states - a largely symbolic move that has little chance of preventing Biden from taking office.
The effort is considered separate from but parallel to that of Senator Hawley, who earlier this week became the first sitting member of the Senate to announce he would challenge the election result.
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz has said he will be among a dozen Republican senators who will challenge President-elect Joe Biden's victory when Electoral College results are tallied in Congress next week
It comes in defiance of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, who has pleaded with his caucus not to attempt to block certification of the election
Trump's Dirty Dozen
Senator Josh Hawley - Missouri - has already said he will object
The Cruz faction
Senator Ted Cruz - Texas
Senator Ron Johnson - Wisconsin
Senator James Lankford - Oklahoma
Senator Steve Daines - Montana
Senator John Kennedy - Louisiana
Senator Marsha Blackburn - Tennessee
Senator Mike Braun - Indiana
Senator-elect Cynthia Lummis - Wyoming
Senator-elect Tommy Tuberville - Alabama
Senator-elect Bill Hagerty - Tennessee
Senator-elect Roger Marshall - Kansas
*Senators-elect will be sworn in as senators on Sunday January 3, and will be eligible to vote on January 6
Cruz was joined in the statement by Senators Ron Johnson, James Lankford, Steve Daines, John Kennedy, Marsha Blackburn, Mike Braun, along with Cynthia Lummis, Tommy Tuberville, Bill Hagerty, and Roger Marshall, all of whom will be sworn in as senators on Sunday in the new Congress.
In a statement, Cruz and the other senators said they intend to vote to reject electors from swing states that have been at the center of President Donald Trump's unproven assertions of election fraud and will call for the establishment of a commission to investigate claims of fraud on an emergency basis.
'We intend to vote on January 6 to reject the electors from disputed states as not `regularly given´ and `lawfully certified´ (the statutory requisite), unless and until that emergency 10-day audit is completed,' they wrote in the statement.
'We do not take this action lightly,' they said.
It comes in defiance of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, who has pleaded with his caucus not to attempt to block certification of the Electoral College results.
In conference calls with colleagues, McConnell has reportedly argued that any attempt to block certification of Biden would be futile, and only divide the party.
Cruz's statement pointed out that Democrats in Congress had previously raised objections to the result of a presidential election, including in 1969, 2001, 2005, and 2017.
President Donald Trump has not proven his claims of election fraud, but Cruz believes an emergency commission should be appointed to get to the bottom of the matter
Senators (left to right) Ron Johnson, James Lankford, Steve Daines signed on with Cruz
Senators John Kennedy, Marsha Blackburn, Mike Braun also joined Cruz's faction
Also joining Cruz were incoming Senators (left to right) Cynthia Lummis, Tommy Tuberville, Bill Hagerty, and Roger Marshall, all of whom will be sworn in as senators on Sunday
Senatory Hawley of Missouri (above) was the first to defy McConnell by announcing he would join House Republicans in objecting to the state tallies on January 6
'The most direct precedent on this question arose in 1877, following serious allegations of fraud and illegal conduct in the Hayes-Tilden presidential race,' the senators argued.
'Specifically, the elections in three states-Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina-were alleged to have been conducted illegally,' they continued.
'In 1877, Congress did not ignore those allegations, nor did the media simply dismiss those raising them as radicals trying to undermine democracy.
'Instead, Congress appointed an Electoral Commission-consisting of five Senators, five House Members, and five Supreme Court Justices-to consider and resolve the disputed returns,' the statement added.
A number of Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives also plan on contesting the vote tally.
The days ahead are expected to do little to change the outcome. Biden is set to be inaugurated January 20 after winning the Electoral College vote 306-232.
Senator Hawley of Missouri was the first to defy McConnell by announcing he would join House Republicans in objecting to the state tallies during Wednesday's joint session of Congress.
The moves drew swift condemnation from Democrats, including former Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, who tweeted 'There are actually 12 Senators 'pointing a loaded gun' at the heart of democracy. They should always be known as the #dirtydozen.'
The Dirty Dozen was a 1967 war film about about ragtag group of hardened criminals who were recruited to form an elite Allied commando unit sent on a virtual suicide mission against high-ranking Nazi officers.
On the other side of the Republican party's split, Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska warned such challenges are a 'dangerous ploy' threatening the nation´s civic norms.
The issue is forcing Republicans to make choices that will set the contours of the post-Trump era and an evolving GOP.
'I will not be participating in a project to overturn the election,' Sasse wrote in a lengthy social media post. Sasse, a potential 2024 presidential contender, said he was 'urging my colleagues also to reject this dangerous ploy.'
Sasse was joined by several other Republicans who also blasted their colleagues' efforts to block Biden's win, including Senators Mitt Romney, Pat Toomey and Lisa Murkowski.
In a statement released on Saturday night, Romney described the move as an 'egregious ploy that 'dangerously threatens our Democratic Republic.'
'I acknowledge that this past election, like all elections, had irregularities. But the evidence is overwhelming that Joe Biden won this election,' Toomey posted on Twitter.
Murkowski said in a statement: ' I will vote to affirm the 2020 presidential election. The courts and state legislatures have all honored their duty to hear legal allegations and have found nothing to warrant overturning the results.'
The Dirty Dozen was a 1967 war film about about ragtag group of hardened criminals who were recruited to form an elite Allied commando unit sent on a virtual suicide mission against high-ranking Nazi officers during WWII. They were victorious, but few survived the mission
Trump, the first president to lose a reelection bid in almost 30 years, has attributed his defeat to widespread voter fraud, despite the consensus of nonpartisan election officials that there wasn't any.
Of the roughly 50 lawsuits the president and his allies have filed challenging election results, nearly all have been dismissed or dropped. He´s also lost twice at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Still, the president has pushed Republican senators to pursue his unfounded charges even though the Electoral College has already cemented Biden´s victory and all that's left is Congress´ formal recognition of the count before the new president is sworn in.
'We are letting people vote their conscience,' Sen. John Thune, the second-ranking Republican, told reporters at the Capitol.
Thune´s remarks as the GOP whip in charge of rounding up votes show that Republican leadership is not putting its muscle behind Trump´s demands, but allowing senators to choose their course. He noted the gravity of questioning the election outcome.
'This is an issue that´s incredibly consequential, incredibly rare historically and very precedent-setting,' he said. 'This is a big vote. They are thinking about it.'
Pence will be carefully watched as he presides over what is typically a routine vote count in Congress but is now heading toward a prolonged showdown that could extend into Wednesday night, depending on how many challenges are mounted.
Former Democratic Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill condemned the Republicans, tweeing 'There are actually 12 Senators 'pointing a loaded gun' at the heart of democracy'
Republican Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska doesn't support his colleagues' plan, saying he urged them to 'reject this dangerous ploy'
The vice president was sued by a group of Republicans who want Pence to have the power to overturn the election results by doing away with an 1887 law that spells out how Congress handles the vote count.
Trump's own Justice Department may have complicated what is already a highly improbable effort to upend the ritualistic count.
It asked a federal judge to dismiss the last-gasp lawsuit from Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, and a group of Republican electors from Arizona who are seeking to force Pence to step outside mere ceremony and shape the outcome of the vote.
In a court filing in Texas, the department said they have 'have sued the wrong defendant' and Pence should not be the target of the legal action.
'A suit to establish that the Vice President has discretion over the count, filed against the Vice President, is a walking legal contradiction,' the department argues.
A judge in Texas dismissed the Gohmert lawsuit Friday night. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Kernodle, a Trump appointee, wrote that the plaintiffs 'allege an injury that is not fairly traceable' to Pence, 'and is unlikely to be redressed by the requested relief.'
That decision was affirmed by a federal appeals court ruling Saturday night.
To ward off a dramatic unraveling, McConnell convened a conference call with Republican senators Thursday specifically to address the coming joint session and logistics of tallying the vote, according to several Republicans granted anonymity to discuss the private call.
The challenge is expected to do little to change the outcome. Biden is set to be inaugurated January 20 after winning the Electoral College vote 306-232
The Republican leader pointedly called on Hawley to answer questions about his challenge to Biden´s victory, according to two of the Republicans.
But there was no response because Hawley was a no-show, the Republicans said.
His office did not respond to a request for comment.
Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., who has acknowledged Biden´s victory and defended his state´s elections systems as valid and accurate, spoke up on the call, objecting to those challenging Pennsylvania´s results and making clear he disagrees with Hawley´s plan to contest the result, his office said in a statement.
McConnell had previously warned GOP senators not to participate in raising objections, saying it would be a terrible vote for colleagues. In essence, lawmakers would be forced to choose between the will of the outgoing president and that of the voters.
Several Republicans have indicated they are under pressure from constituents back home to show they are fighting for Trump in his baseless campaign to stay in office.
Full statement of the Cruz faction on objections to election results
Ted Cruz and 10 other Republican senators issued the following statement on Saturday, in advance of the Electoral College certification process on January 6, 2021:
'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.
'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. And, 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 2020 election, however, featured unprecedented allegations of voter fraud, violations and lax enforcement of election law, and other voting irregularities.
'Voter fraud has posed a persistent challenge in our elections, although its breadth and scope are disputed. By any measure, the allegations of fraud and irregularities in the 2020 election exceed any in our lifetimes.
'And those allegations are not believed just by one individual candidate. Instead, they are widespread. Reuters/Ipsos polling, tragically, shows that 39% of Americans believe 'the election was rigged.' That belief is held by Republicans (67%), Democrats (17%), and Independents (31%).
'Some Members of Congress disagree with that assessment, as do many members of the media.
'But, whether or not our elected officials or journalists believe it, that deep distrust of our democratic processes will not magically disappear. It should concern us all. And it poses an ongoing threat to the legitimacy of any subsequent administrations.
'Ideally, the courts would have heard evidence and resolved these claims of serious election fraud. Twice, the Supreme Court had the opportunity to do so; twice, the Court declined.
'On January 6, it is incumbent on Congress to vote on whether to certify the 2020 election results. That vote is the lone constitutional power remaining to consider and force resolution of the multiple allegations of serious voter fraud.
'At that quadrennial joint session, there is long precedent of Democratic Members of Congress raising objections to presidential election results, as they did in 1969, 2001, 2005, and 2017. And, in both 1969 and 2005, a Democratic Senator joined with a Democratic House Member in forcing votes in both houses on whether to accept the presidential electors being challenged.
'The most direct precedent on this question arose in 1877, following serious allegations of fraud and illegal conduct in the Hayes-Tilden presidential race. Specifically, the elections in three states-Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina-were alleged to have been conducted illegally.
'In 1877, Congress did not ignore those allegations, nor did the media simply dismiss those raising them as radicals trying to undermine democracy. Instead, Congress appointed an Electoral Commission-consisting of five Senators, five House Members, and five Supreme Court Justices-to consider and resolve the disputed returns.
'We should follow that precedent. To wit, Congress should immediately appoint an Electoral Commission, with full investigatory and fact-finding authority, to conduct an emergency 10-day audit of the election returns in the disputed states. Once completed, individual states would evaluate the Commission's findings and could convene a special legislative session to certify a change in their vote, if needed.
'Accordingly, we intend to vote on January 6 to reject the electors from disputed states as not 'regularly given' and 'lawfully certified' (the statutory requisite), unless and until that emergency 10-day audit is completed.
'We are not naïve. We fully expect most if not all Democrats, and perhaps more than a few Republicans, to vote otherwise. But support of election integrity should not be a partisan issue. A fair and credible audit-conducted expeditiously and completed well before January 20-would dramatically improve Americans' faith in our electoral process and would significantly enhance the legitimacy of whoever becomes our next President. We owe that to the People.
'These are matters worthy of the Congress, and entrusted to us to defend. We do not take this action lightly. We are acting not to thwart the democratic process, but rather to protect it. And every one of us should act together to ensure that the election was lawfully conducted under the Constitution and to do everything we can to restore faith in our Democracy.'
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