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WASHINGTON – A federal judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit led by President Trump’s allies in Congress that sought to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election results, dealing a blow to recent efforts lawmakers to challenge President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory.
Texas Eastern District Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle ruled that Republican lawmakers, led by Representative Louie Gohmert of Texas, lacked standing to prosecute Mr. Pence in the case. The lawsuit challenged the century-old law that governs the Electoral College process, in an attempt to expand an otherwise ceremonial role to one with the power to reject electoral votes cast for Mr. Biden.
As President of the Senate, Mr. Pence is responsible for opening and accounting for the envelopes sent by each state and announcing their election results when Congress meets on January 6 to certify Mr. Biden’s victory. Mr Gohmert, along with his colleagues and constituents in Arizona, had hoped the lawsuit, filed Sunday, could force Mr Pence to take on an expanded role, opening the vice president to pressure to invalidate the election results.
But Judge Kernodle, who was appointed by Mr Trump, dashed those hopes on Friday, although Mr Gohmert said in an interview with Newsmax that his lawyers would appeal. His decision came a day after the Justice Department asked him to dismiss the trial. The ministry also argued that Mr. Gohmert did not have standing to prosecute Mr. Pence for the performance of the duties defined by law, but argued that he should sue Congress, which had passed the original law.
The president was upset when he learned that the Justice Department was representing Mr Pence in a complaint his supporters had filed, and he contacted the vice president on Friday morning to discuss it, three people briefed on the discussion said. .
During their conversation, Mr. Trump expressed surprise at the developments, even though the Justice Department followed the proper process because Mr. Pence was being sued in his official capacity, according to one of the people informed of the discussion. Mr. Trump spoke more to advisers than to Mr. Pence about his frustrations with the Justice Department’s involvement.
Mr Trump’s allies in Congress mount doomed last-minute effort to overturn election results by opposing certification of major states’ election results when Congress meets to certify them , the last procedural step in asserting Mr. Biden’s victory. Their effort, led by Mr. Gohmert in the House and Josh Hawley of Missouri in the Senate, will force each chamber to debate the objections for up to two hours, followed by a vote on Mr. Biden’s victory.
With a majority of Republicans in the Senate supposed to certify the election and with the House controlled by Democrats, the candidacy is doomed to failure. But the process could ultimately put Mr. Pence in the agonizing position of declaring that Mr. Trump has lost the election.
Although Republicans in the Senate have responded to the bet largely with reluctance – and even open contempt – House lawmakers have rallied to support the effort. In the brief that Mr. Gohmert initially filed in federal court, he indicated that more than 140 House Republicans intended to oppose Mr. Biden’s victory.
Mr Trump continued to falsely claim that Mr Biden unfairly won the election due to widespread electoral fraud and demanded that Republicans in Congress make every effort to overturn the results.
But there was no evidence of widespread impropriety, and former Attorney General William P. Barr admitted the Justice Department had uncovered no such fraud that would have changed the outcome.
The Supreme Court and courts of at least eight critical states across the country have also dismissed or dismissed challenges the Trump campaign has launched in an attempt to overturn the election results. These challenges did not fail to reverse the results in one state.
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