President Trump is shifting his focus to Congress after the courts roundly rejected his bid to overturn the results of the election, pressuring congressional Republicans into taking a final stand to keep him in power.
Trump’s push is part of a multipronged approach as he also seeks to lobby state and federal lawmakers to give him cover for his unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud, as well as rally support for a last-gasp legal challenge in the Supreme Court that election law experts almost universally dismiss.
The president has been calling Republicans, imploring them to keep fighting and more loudly proclaim the election was stolen while pressing them on what they plan to do. He spoke to Arizona GOP Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward and Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), head of the conservative Republican Study Committee, on Wednesday, and is expected to meet Thursday at the White House with several state attorneys general. Meanwhile, Rudolph W. Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer and point man in the legal fight, has been making similar calls from the hospital, where he is being treated for covid-19….
Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Trump’s conservative allies in the House have been privately buttonholing GOP senators, seeking to enlist one to join in objecting to slates of electors on Jan. 6, according to multiple people familiar with their effort who requested anonymity to discuss their plans.
On that day, Congress meets in joint session to count the electoral votes and declare Joe Biden as the 46th president — with Pence presiding. But if a member of the House and Senate challenge a state’s results, the whole Congress would vote — and the GOP plotting all but assures the routine process could take a dramatic turn, forcing Republicans to choose between accepting the election results or Trump’s bid to overturn the outcome….
The Jan. 6 date in Congress looms large as Trump’s last chance, with the purpose of calls to state lawmakers to get them to pressure members of Congress. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) has said he will challenge the results though it is unclear how many slates of electors he and other Trump allies plan to contest.AD
The question is whether they can find a Senate Republican to join their effort to trigger votes in the House and Senate.
Earlier this week, Brooks and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), leader of the House Freedom Caucus, met privately with the Senate Republican Steering Committee leaders, including Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Ted Cruz (R-Tex.). According to people familiar with the meeting who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the House members pitched both men on their plan and made clear that they need a Senate Republican to join their effort.
The offices of both senators declined to comment on the meeting or whether the senators would heed the request. Asked about the matter Tuesday, Cruz dodged the question and said the courts would be the final decision on the election.
“There are multiple lawsuits raising allegations of fraud and irregularities in this election,” Cruz said. “We need to allow the judicial process to work its way through and resolve those claims.”
Conservatives also have been eyeing Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who may have future presidential ambitions and would join the effort to make a last stand for Trump.
Republicans also hope to recruit Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), who is locked in a competitive Georgia runoff election set for Jan. 5. Conservatives believe that if she were to announce that she will join the House effort and object to state electors, Loeffler could rally the GOP base and secure her election against Democrat Raphael Warnock.