Saturday, both Congressman Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville, and Senator-elect Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, announced that they were supporting Congressman Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville, campaign to challenge Electoral College results awarding swing states to President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. (R). Congressmen-elect Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, and Jerry Carl, R-Mobile, were already publicly supporting Brooks in his crusade challenging the legitimacy of Biden’s Nov. election.
Saturday evening, Congressman Aderholt released a statement explaining his position on the role the United States Congress plays in certifying the electoral process.
“As Congress will soon be faced with the actual counting of various states’ electoral votes for the next president of the United States on January 6, it is imperative that members of Congress, like myself, look to the United States Constitution, and to the Electoral Act of 1887, to know how we should move forward,” Aderholt explained. “From examining these documents on my own, it is clear to me that Congress has the final review of the electoral process and this is not just a ceremonial act.”
“Therefore, based on the overwhelming questions that have been raised about moving forward with the approval of the electors from the states, I have come to the conclusion, and agree with my fellow Alabamian, Rep. Mo Brooks, along with several my colleagues, that there are too many reports of serious fraud for this not to be debated in the House and Senate,” Aderholt announced.
“In addition, I also support the efforts by Texas Senator Ted Cruz, newly elected Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville, and other Senators, to go a step further and create a bi-cameral commission to more closely examine the election results,” Aderholt continued. “Furthermore, I call on other members of the House of Representatives to join these efforts as well. We owe it to the American people to investigate what exactly transpired during this election year, and if state laws were broken by activist judges who decided to make election law on their own. No matter who is sworn in on January 20th, whether it be Joe Biden or Donald Trump, the winner needs to know, and should want to know, if the process was carried out fairly and according to individual state law, which the Constitution demands.”
Earlier in the day, Tuberville joined a letter by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and nine other Republican Senators and Senator-elects announced their intent to join Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, in challenging the legitimacy of Biden’s election in the Senate. Under the election laws, last updated in 1887, it takes a member of each House of Congress to object to the results for that objection to be considered.
“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,” the 11 Senators wrote in a joint statement. “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.”
The allegations of fraud and irregularities in the 2020 election “exceed any in our lifetime,” the group added, noting courts, including the Supreme Court, have repeatedly declined to hear evidence of alleged fraud.
Tuberville and the other senators said Congress should immediately appoint an Electoral Commission, with full investigatory and fact-finding authority, to conduct an emergency 10-day audit of election returns in disputed states. Once completed, the states would evaluate the commission’s findings and 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,” the group said.
The group includes Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, Steve Daines, R-Montana, John Kennedy, R-Louisiana, Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, Mike Braun, R-Indiana, and Cruz as well as Sens.-elect Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, Bill Hagerty, R-Tennessee, and Tuberville. Tuberville will be sworn in on Sunday along with Moore and Carl ahead of the joint session on Jan. 6.
“I cannot vote to certify the electoral college results on Jan. 6 without raising the fact that some states, particularly Pennsylvania, failed to follow their own state election laws,” Hawley wrote in a statement on Dec. 30.
The session is the final step in the Electoral College system to certifying a president-elect. Taking place two weeks before inauguration day, the session sees the vice president, as president of the Senate, preside over members of Congress counting electoral votes.
The objections will be submitted in writing triggering an end of the joint session and withdrawal from the joint session and a two-hour debate. Each chamber will then vote on the objection. It is upheld with a majority vote in each chamber. Democrats have a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, thus should have the votes to override any objection to certification of Biden there. Republicans have a very narrow 50 to 48 majority, including two independents who caucus in the Senate. Ultimate control of the Senate is being decided Tuesday in two runoff elections in Georgia.
At present 41 representatives and 12 senators have publicly declared their intent to object to the Electoral College results. While there have been four objections raised since 1969, the Congress of the United States has never rejected the Electoral College results and is not likely to this time.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said Saturday that she is confident that that Biden will be sworn in on Jan. 20.
Original report by the Hill and the Epoch Times contributed to this report.
