US Politics

Congress is set to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election on Wednesday, but the process is expected to be interrupted by unfounded objections by Republicans trying to curry favor with Donald Trump and the base of voters that support him.Other Republicans have said they will not join efforts to overturn the election result after dozens of state and federal lawsuits, state legislative hearings and elections challenges at the local level have failed to produce a shred of evidence to support Trump’s wild and false claims of voter fraud.From 1pm ET, Congress will begin certifying the presidential election result, state by state. But any state result is subject to objection by any member of Congress – and if both a senator and a member of the House of Representatives sign on to any one objection, the two chambers must retire for up to two hours to debate the objection.Here is a short list of the key players to watch:Senators Josh Hawley and Ted CruzHawley, from Missouri, and Cruz, from Texas, are leading a group of Republican senators who have said they will join objections to state results.Each politician hopes to be the Republican presidential nominee in 2024, and their willingness to sign on to Trump’s baseless campaign is recognized as being a sign of their political ambitions.Challenges in the House of Representatives to a state’s presidential election result are not uncommon. The House is four times as large as the Senate and, with every member coming up for election every two years, the chamber is subject to constant turnover and the attending ideological turbulence.But the Senate has mostly sat out from past wild assaults on the valid results of presidential elections. Until now.Senators Tom Cotton and Mike LeeThe softness of support among even very conservative-slash-ambitious senators for Trump’s attempt to overturn the election signals the basic weakness of the effort and the series of question marks that lay ahead for the Republican party.Cotton, a blistering conservative from Arkansas, is also expected to run for president in 2024, while Lee is a conservative ally of Trump and a close ally of Cruz. But each senator has announced that he will not support objections to the state electoral tallies. There’s no telling what voters in a presidential primary three years hence will remember of the current episode, but Cotton for one has declined to join the Trump dead-enders.Mitch McConnellThe Republican Senate majority leader asked his caucus not to join challenges to the election result, and he dispatched his top lieutenant on national TV to announce that any such challenge “would go down like a shot dog”.And yet, about a quarter of McConnell’s caucus and a majority of newly elected Republican senators has signed on to Trump’s mission, in direct defiance of the party leader.How will McConnell handle challenges that he does not support from his own party to election results? Some progressives have indulged fantasies of a catastrophic Republican rift playing out on cable TV.In reality, most of America will not be watching and whatever rifts open are most likely to feed an internal party struggle such as it may develop.Nancy PelosiThe Democrat House speaker will be in charge of responding to objections raised in her chamber to state election results. Widely praised for her expedient and effective handling of the 2019 impeachment inquiry, Pelosi is thought to be organizing a united Democratic front with room for Republican recruits. In any case the battle is playing out on her turf of parliamentary procedure and coalition-building expertise.The House RepublicansA number of House Republicans, led by some of the hottest firebrands on Capitol Hill such as Alabama’s Mo Brooks and Texas’ Louie Gohmert, have vowed to object to a number of state election results. Unlike their counterparts in the Senate, some of these House members would appear to be acting not out of a cynical political calculus but as true believers in the Trump cause. Many are return figures from the defense of Trump during his impeachment in the fall of 2019.Mike PenceAs vice-president, Pence is the ceremonial president of the Senate, meaning he will serve as presiding officer for the announcement of Joe Biden’s election victory.As vice president at the start of 2017, Biden filled a similar role for the announcement of Trump’s victory. But unlike Biden, Pence is serving under a president who wishes to overturn the election result, introducing complications for Pence, who would like to stay on Trump’s good side as another potential 2024 presidential candidate.Speculative scenarios for an act of indecision or contravention by Pence abound – and seem largely overblown. Senator Chuck Grassley had suggested that Pence might absent himself from the proceedings, but it appears Pence will preside. Most analysts expect him to certify the presidential election result in accordance with the minor and ceremonial capacity allotted to him by the constitution. More

A joint session of Congress is scheduled to begin meeting on Wednesday at 1pm to finally certify Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.Never in the modern political history of the United States have these proceedings been notable. For 150 years, Congress has acted in accordance with the constitution and the 1887 Electoral Count Act to simply receive election results from the states and announce them to the nation. It usually takes a couple hours on a weekday, and does not make many headlines.This year will be different. Goaded by Donald Trump, a dozen Republican senators have announced they will join with conspiracy-minded members of the House of Representatives to advance unfounded challenges to the states’ election results. These challenges will proceed in spite of an utter lack of evidence of any significant voting irregularities, dozens of foregoing contrary court decisions and an unbroken chain of miserably weak and corrupt challenges at state and local levels.The process of congressional certification of the presidential election result this year will be different for two main reasons. One, Trump has demanded that his election loss at the hands of more than 81m Americans be overturned. And two, key Republicans players in Congress have decided to support Trump’s effort to advance their own political ambitions.The events of the day leave plenty of room for unexpected twists. But here is a short guide to how the proceedings are expected to unfold.Delivery of electoral votesEvery state certified its election results before a 14 December deadline. The states submitted results to the national archivist. On Wednesday, copies of the certifications will be delivered to Congress in ceremonial boxes, in a scene recalling the ceremonial delivery one year ago of the articles of impeachment against Trump to the Senate.Roll call of statesThe presiding officer for the proceedings is the vice-president, Mike Pence, in his role as president of the senate. If the vice-president is unavailable, the longest-serving senator would fill in. The presiding officer announces each state in alphabetical order. Each state’s result is announced in turn. The tally for each presidential candidate accrues as the votes are announced. Biden won the election 306-232. That is expected to be the basic final tally. But stray single votes for non-candidates, in symbolic protest of the election, often appear.ObjectionsHere is where the process is likely to give way to unusual detours. Republicans have announced they will object to certain states’ results. Any objection to a state’s result must be submitted in writing. If at least one member of both the Senate and the House of Representatives signs any objection, the joint session is suspended and the houses retire to their respective chambers for up to two hours’ debate on the objection.Serial debateIt’s not clear how many state results may become subject to Republican objections. No substantive claims of voter fraud have surfaced in any state. But Republicans are acutely aware of which state results sealed Trump’s loss, and as many as six of those states (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin) could become the focus for objections. What is clear is that after each objection, a new debate must commence, meaning the overall process of certification could be prolonged.Dismissing objectionsAt the end of debate over an objection to a state result, each chamber of Congress votes on the objection. If both chambers vote in favor of an objection, it is sustained and the slate of electors in question is tossed. However, if either chamber votes against any objection, the objection is tossed.The House of Representatives is extremely likely to dismiss any objection to the results in any state because the chamber is controlled by Democrats, who have not trafficked in election fraud conspiracies and lies, and who would prefer to see the rightful winner of the election, Joe Biden, installed as president.But the Senate is also unlikely to toss any state’s election result, because there (appear to) remain a sufficient number of Republican members of that body unwilling to sell out democracy to Trump to vote down any objection from the ambitious few.Thus, no state result is likely to be tossed.Mike Pence’s roleAt the end of the proceedings, it is prescribed that the president of the senate, the vice-president of the United States, in this case Pence, announces the state of the vote. Joe Biden filled this role in 2016. It’s a ceremonial role employing ceremonial language.But Trump and others have urged Pence to seek a greater role in the proceedings – to advance certain objections, perhaps, or to resist the certification of the vote.Under the law, it does not matter what Trump thinks Pence’s role ought to be. The role is clearly prescribed in the constitution and in election law.ConclusionThe presiding officer recognizes a so-called “teller” from Congress, who reports a count “as the result of the ascertainment and the counting of the electoral vote for president and vice-president of the United States”.Then the presiding officer says: “The state of the vote for the president of the United States as delivered to the president of the Senate is as follows.” And he announces the tally.More ceremonial language follows:“This announcement of the state of the vote by the president of the Senate shall be deemed sufficient declaration of the persons elected president and vice-president of the United States…“The purpose of this joint session having been concluded … the chair declares the joint session dissolved.” More

After four years of defending and emboldening Donald Trump, Republicans in Congress on Wednesday will face their most consequential test of loyalty yet: to indulge the president’s brazen and meritless bid to overturn the results an election he lost, or to uphold the democratic process and certify Joe Biden as the next president of the United States.A handful of congressional Republicans are preparing to object to the certification of the electoral college results when Congress meets on Wednesday, turning what is traditionally a perfunctory affair into Trump’s last stand. Their coordinated rebellion, unprecedented in modern times, is all but destined to fail and Biden will be inaugurated on 20 January.In his increasingly desperate bid to cling to power, Trump, who has not conceded, has spent the last several weeks attempting to enlist allies and pressure public officials to overturn Biden’s 306-232 election win. His machinations escalated this weekend when he pressured the Georgia secretary of state, Republican Brad Raffensberger, to “find” enough votes to reverse Biden’s win in the state.As required by the constitution, the joint session of Congress will meet to count the electoral votes. The votes will be delivered to the chamber in mahogany boxes and read aloud in alphabetical order of the states, with Mike Pence over the meeting. At the conclusion of the count, it is the vice-president who finally, formally declares the winner.Around the Capitol, authorities are bracing for “stop the steal” protests they fear could turn violent. Trump, who has encouraged his followers to join the gathering even as coronavirus cases surge across the country, said he plans to attend, as do several of his allies and a number of far-right groups, including the Proud Boys.Trump has been pressuring Pence to simply reject the vote count. On Tuesday, Trump claimed that “the vice-president has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors”. This is false.A handful of Trump loyalists in the House have been planning this showdown for weeks. But in recent days the effort gained support from a quarter of Senate Republicans, first from Josh Hawley, an ambitious first-term Republican from Missouri. Days later, a coalition of Republican senators and senators-elect led by the Texas senator Ted Cruz announced their opposition to certifying Biden’s win unless Congress agrees to a 10-day audit of the election results, which is highly unlikely.On Monday, the Georgia senator Kelly Loeffler, vying to keep her seat, announced that she too would object. (David Perdue, the other Republican candidate in Georgia, supports the effort but will not vote because his term expired on Sunday.)In the House, where the effort is led by the Ohio congressman Jim Jordan, a top Trump ally, Republicans said the plan to voice objections to Biden’s wins in six swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.To succeed, an objection must come from both a member of the House and the Senate. Hawley has said he planned to object to the results from Pennsylvania, while Cruz plans to object to the results in Arizona. Both are considered presidential contenders in 2024, seeking to ingratiate themselves with Trump’s fervent base.The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, sought to avoid this internecine showdown, keenly aware of the political blowback members of his caucus will face – either for defying the president or attempting to subvert the will of millions of voters. Several Senate Republicans have condemned the effort – more than enough needed to ensure the campaign will fail. The Republican senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska has called it a “dangerous ploy”. And Senator Pat Toomey, a Republican from Pennsylvania, one of the states that is expected to draw an objection, denounced what he said was his colleagues “effort to disenfranchise millions of voters in my state and others”.All 50 states have certified the election results after a number of closely contested states conducted post-election audits and recounts to ensure their accuracy. Courts at every level, including the supreme court, have rejected dozens of lawsuits filed by Trump and his allies to challenge the results.None of the senators who plan to reject the results of the election have come forward with specific allegations of fraud. Instead they have pointed to public opinion polls that show, after weeks of the president and his allies insisting the election was stolen from him, their supporters believe the election was “rigged” as evidence that further investigation was needed. More

Donald Trump is using his last days in office to pardon those who do not deserve it. Among the most egregious recipients are the Blackwater security guards responsible for the Nisour Square massacre – the killing of unarmed civilians, including children, in Iraq. The president’s deplorable decision fits a pattern: just over a year ago, he pardoned a former army lieutenant found guilty of murder after ordering his men to fire at three Afghans, and a former US army commando facing trial over the killing of a suspected bombmaker.
There has been no such mercy shown to a man whom the US is pursuing after he cast an unforgiving light on its abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan. Julian Assange’s future is dependent on the decisions of British courts. On Monday, district judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled that the WikiLeaks founder could not be extradited to the US, where he has been charged under the Espionage Act, including for publishing classified material.
But she rejected defence arguments that the prosecution had misrepresented the facts and that he was being pursued for a political offence. She ruled against extradition only on the grounds that the risk of him killing himself was substantial, given his mental health and the conditions in which he was likely to be held – in isolation in a “supermax” high-security prison.
This decision is a relief for Mr Assange and his family. But it is no cause for celebration for the defendant and his supporters, or for those concerned about press freedom more broadly. The American Civil Liberties Union has described charging him over publication as “a direct assault on the first amendment”. The ruling offers no protection to any journalist who might find themselves in Mr Assange’s position. It is no victory for the right to share material of clear public interest.
Mr Assange’s lawyers will on Wednesday apply for bail on his behalf. Legal experts suggest that his chances are poor: he served a 50-week sentence for skipping bail after police removed him from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he had fled to avoid extradition to Sweden over a sexual assault investigation that was subsequently dropped. But his prospects of avoiding extradition now appear considerably brighter; he has a family to consider; and his mental health and the physical risks posed by Covid in Belmarsh prison, where he has been held since April 2019, make the case for bail more pressing.
Legal proceedings are likely to drag on for years – unless the US chooses to scrap these charges rather than appeal. It should do so. There is a shameful contrast between this administration’s simultaneous pardoning of men for horrific offences and the pursuit of a man who exposed war crimes. When Joe Biden takes office on 20 January, he cannot undo the damage caused by undue and unjust lenience. But he can, and should, let Mr Assange walk free. More

A California resident confirmed they had been bombarded with calls and texts after the campaign team for Donald Trump erroneously shared the Michigan native’s phone number instead of that for a Michigan state senator.In the president’s latest attempt to overturn the results of the presidential election, campaign officials called on Twitter and Facebook users to contact the Michigan state senate majority leader, Mike Shirkey, and former state house speaker Lee Chatfield to decertify its presidential election ballets and threaten Joe Biden’s victory. Biden won the state by more than 150,000 votes.The campaign posted what they believed to be Chatfield’s phone number. Instead, they had mistakenly given the phone number for O Rose, who goes by a shortened first name. Rose told the Petoskey News-Review their phone began ringing nonstop soon after.“I told them I was not Lee Chatfield, but they would still not believe me,” they said. “It was just a string of people progressively denying reality.”The post also misidentified Chatfield as the current speaker. Still, Trump re-shared it to more than 35 million followers on his own Facebook page, amplifying the incorrect contact information for his angry supporters. Rose later confirmed to the Washington Post they received thousands of calls and text messages from outraged Trump voters across the country.“My phone can’t even take it anymore. It’s breaking,” they said. “I was getting so many calls it was impossible to do anything with my phone.”Rose learned of the error after a friend of their father, who believed they had contacted the Michigan state representative, sent them a text instead. At times, Rose attempted to politely correct misinformed callers, but many became aggressive, they said.Soon, Rose said they were receiving photos of rabbits, pie recipes and threats. A screenshot shared with the News-Review showed Rose responding that “this is NOT representative Lee’s number” to a user, adding they are “a random citizen”.After being reassured the wrong numbers was posted by the Trump campaign, the sender replied “so you say”.“They still think I’m [Chatfield] and keep trying to tell me what they want and they say, ‘I’m sending this to the president!’” Rose told the Post.Contacting the Trump campaign to have the posts removed has proven unsuccessful, but Rose has also since sent messages to Chatfield’s Facebook page. Despite the efforts, the original posts questioning the legitimacy of the election remain up.“I’m being personally affected by a decision that [the Trump team] made without fact-checking, and that’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard,” Rose added, confirming plans to change their phone number.A native of a Petoskey, Michigan, the former customer service representative relocated to the west coast to escape the midwest, saying “it still follows me, apparently”. More

A Democratic congressman said he was surprised by the negative response after he ended an opening prayer on the first day of the new Congress by saying “amen and a-woman” – and said conservative critics including Donald Trump Jr had only proved themselves “soiled by selfishness, perverted by prejudice and inveigled by ideology”.Emanuel Cleaver, a United Methodist minister and former mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, is beginning his ninth term. He told the Kansas City Star his “A-woman” reference on Sunday was intended to recognize the record number of women serving in the new Congress.There are 144 women serving in the House and Senate. The previous high was 129.But Cleaver’s words spurred a torrent of criticism from conservatives who accused him of misunderstanding the meaning of “amen” – a Hebrew word that means “so be it”.One Republican representative, Guy Reschenthaler, of Pennsylvania, incorrectly stated on Twitter that “amen” had Latin origins, but added: “It’s not a gendered word. Unfortunately, facts are irrelevant to progressives. Unbelievable.”Trump Jr made the same mistake, writing: “It isn’t a gendered word but that didn’t stop them from being insane. Is this what you voted for?”Cleaver said he “concluded with a lighthearted pun in recognition of the record number of women who will be representing the American people in Congress during this term as well as in recognition of the first female chaplain of the House of Representatives whose service commenced this week”.Cleaver led the search committee that selected Margaret Grun Kibben, the former chief chaplain of the navy, for that role.“I personally find these historic occasions to be blessings from God for which I am grateful,” Cleaver said, adding that he was “deeply disappointed that my prayer has been misinterpreted and misconstrued by some to fit a narrative that stokes resentment and greater division among portions of our population.“Rather than reflecting on my faithful requests for community healing and reversion from our increasingly tribal tendencies, it appears that some have latched on to the final word of this conversation in an attempt to twist my message to God and demean me personally.“In doing so, they have proven one point of my greater message – that we are all ‘soiled by selfishness, perverted by prejudice and inveigled by ideology’.” More

Georgia voters headed to the polls on Tuesday for the final day of voting in a critical election that will determine which party controls the US Senate and what Joe Biden can achieve in the first two years of his presidency.After she cast her ballot on the chilly morning in Atlanta, Stephanie Aluko stood outside her polling place and noted how remarkable it was that the entire world was paying attention to her state.“It made people in Georgia see how important it actually is to vote,” she said outside Antioch Baptist church, where a steady stream of voters were able to quickly cast their ballots. “If the whole world is looking at you and paying attention to you, suddenly, maybe your vote matters.”Democrats Jon Ossoff and the Rev Raphael Warnock are trying to oust Georgia’s incumbent Republican senators, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, respectively. If Democrats win, they will win complete control of the US Congress, (the Senate would be evenly split with Kamala Harris, the vice-president-elect, casting the tie-breaking vote) allowing Biden to enact an ambitious policy agenda on items such as voting rights and the environment.If Republicans win even one seat, they will maintain their majority in the Senate, giving them a powerful veto in government and limiting what Democrats can achieve. A record amount of money has poured into the race, a reflection of its high stakes.The race is also a crucial test of a new emerging political power in Georgia. Long considered a conservative bastion, Joe Biden carried the state in November, the first Democrat to do so in nearly 30 years. The changing electorate is also being driven by efforts from Stacey Abrams and other grassroots groups, many led by Black women, to organize and mobilize voters of color.“To be able to be part of this specific election is memorable because I feel like my vote actually counted this time,” said Gabi Strode, 27, who also voted at Antioch Baptist church on Tuesday morning. “It’s surreal, kind of.”Georgia Democrats have not won a statewide runoff election in decades, according to ABC News, as Democratic turnout typically drops in the second race. But ahead of Tuesday, more than 3 million people had voted early, a record for a runoff election, with significant numbers in Democratic-leaning areas. Black voters have also consistently made up a higher percentage of the early electorate than they did at the same point ahead of the November general election, according to Ryan Anderson, who analyzes Georgia voter data and publishes to the website georgiavotes.comThe early vote data showed Republicans needed to have strong turnout on election day in order to win, said Charles Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia.Meanwhile, there was a jolt in the lead-up to election day after the Washington Post published a recorded phone call in which Donald Trump, who lost Georgia by 11,779 votes, pressured Georgia election officials to change the results from the November election to make him the winner in the state. At a rally in Georgia on Monday evening, the president continued to falsely claim that he won more votes than Biden in the state.Several Republicans have backed Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud, and several, including Loeffler, plan to object to Congress’s certification of electors in the presidential race on Wednesday“It makes me angry,” Shirley Rosser, 64, a voter in Atlanta said of Trump’s false claims about voter fraud. “It makes me want to kick his behind.”Polls are open until 7pm ET in Georgia and voters are entitled to cast a ballot as long as they are lined up by then. Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s top election official, predicted there would be an election result on Wednesday morning, though it could take longer as election workers count absentee ballots. Experts are again urging patience in processing the results – since it may take longer for Democratic-leaning areas with large populations to report vote totals, it may appear that Republican candidates are ahead before all votes are counted.If the race is close, there will probably be an aggressive legal effort to challenge ballots in the days to come.During a rally in Riverdale, Georgia, about 20 minutes outside of Atlanta, on Monday, Warnock used the possibility of post-election litigation to motivate his supporters.“We need to win by a comfortable margin. Because, you know, funny things go on,” he said. More

Starting at a new workplace for most people may involve pondering car parking spaces or nearby lunch spots, but Lauren Boebert, a member of the US Congress, has made clear her key requirement is that she carries a loaded Glock handgun to and from the Capitol each day.Boebert, a Republican, is one of the newest House members and has released a near three-minute online video explaining why she will bring a gun through the streets of Washington to Congress.After putting the gun into her waistband and appearing to stride out on to the streets, Boebert says that “skyrocketing” crime in Washington, her small stature, and her constitutional rights justify her gun carrying. “One of the challenges of working in DC is that people here don’t understand how we live in real America,” Boebert said of a city that has been America’s capital since 1790.Washington’s police chief has said his office will contact Boebert over the video, as non-residents must register guns with the DC police. Members of Congress can carry guns on the US Capitol, which is federal land, but a permit is needed to bring one through the surrounding Washington streets.“There are no exceptions in the District of Columbia,” said the police chief, Robert Contee III, about the video. “We plan to reach out to the congresswoman’s office to make sure that she is aware what the laws of the District of Columbia are, what the restrictions are. And that congresswoman … will be subjected to the same penalties as anyone else that’s caught on a District of Columbia street carrying a firearm unlawfully.”A spokesman for Boebert said she was not carrying the gun throughout the video shoot despite the opening scene, according to the Washington Post. Democrats who have attempted to ban the carrying of guns on the US Capitol condemned Boebert’s video as an insulting stunt.A 1967 law that prohibits members of the public from carrying guns on Capitol grounds was signed by President Lyndon Johnson. Regulations created by the police board days later exempted members of Congress from the law but still prohibited them from carrying firearms in either legislative chamber. Lawmakers do not have to seek Capitol police permission, so it is unknown how many members carry firearms on the grounds, according to the Washington Post.Boebert, one of Donald Trump’s most vocal adherents, has built a political persona based largely around guns. She is the owner of a restaurant called Shooters Grill in the town of Rifle, Colorado, where staff are allowed to carry guns and are given mandatory gun training.Boebert’s initial political attacks were aimed at Beto O’Rourke when he was running for president, vowing that O’Rourke would not take her guns from her, and has since styled herself as a defender of the second amendment. More