Ben Sasse: GOP senator slams Republicans who plan to delay certification of Joe Biden victory

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“Having had a private conversation with two dozen of my colleagues over the past few weeks, it seems useful to explain in public why I will not be participating in a project to overturn the elections – and why I have urged my colleagues as well to reject this dangerous ploy, ”Sasse, the Republican senator from Nebraska, wrote in a six-part Facebook post on Wednesday night.

He added: “The president and his allies are playing with fire. They have asked – first the courts, then the state legislatures, now Congress – to overturn the results of a presidential election. They called without success judges and are now calling on federal officials to strike down millions upon millions of votes. If you’re making big claims, you better have proof. But the president doesn’t and the institutional incendiary members of Congress who will oppose the electoral college vote either. “

The occasional critic of President Donald Trump alleged in his post that his fellow Republicans overheard claims the election was fraudulent for fear of the president’s grassroots political backlash.

“When we speak in private, I haven’t heard any Republican in Congress claim that the election results were fraudulent – not a single one,” Sasse wrote. “Instead, I hear them talk about their concerns about how they’re going to ‘look’ at President Trump’s most ardent supporters.”

Sasse’s posts come after Republican Missouri Senator Josh Hawley on Wednesday said he would object when Congress counts the electoral college votes next week, which will force lawmakers in the House and Senate to vote on accepting Biden’s victory.

Hawley is the first senator to announce his intention to oppose the results, which is important because a member of the House and a senator are required to file an objection when Congress counts the constituency votes on January 6.

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

In his Facebook post, Sasse attacked Trump’s conspiracies – building on the failed Trump campaign lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Wisconsin and Georgia – and wrote that the president’s prosecution attempts were a “Fundraising strategy”.

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

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

Sasse ended his lengthy explanation with a discussion of the responsibility he feels to protect American institutions at this time.

“Let’s be clear what’s going on here: we have a group of ambitious politicians who believe there is a quick way to tap into the president’s populist base without causing real long-term damage. But they are wrong – and this problem is greater than anyone’s personal ambitions, ”Sasse wrote.

After Biden’s projected victory in November, Trump and his legal team for weeks launched increasingly desperate appeals and baseless conspiracy theories about the theft of his second term. His attack on the November election and loss to Biden peaked in a brazen lawsuit initiated by the Texas attorney general and brought to the Supreme Court.

The lawsuit – filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a staunch Trump ally – sought to prosecute Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia and Wisconsin, all of which went for Biden, and invalidate their election results.

The high court slammed the case Trump promoted on December 11, three days before the electoral college met to vote for Biden as the winner in the November election.

Trump is now hoping for Congress’ certification of the results next week as his next opportunity to reverse the result, but the process – even if extended by members of Congress opposing the state results – will inevitably end with the Biden’s entry into the White House on January 20.

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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