Republican mourns Josh Hawley for opposing Biden Win certification

Republican Representative Denver Riggleman of Virginia called Missouri GOP Sen. Josh Hawley’s decision to challenge Electoral College voting results “horrific” in an appearance Monday on MSNBC.

President-elect Joe Biden won popular and electoral votes in the November election. But President Donald Trump has baselessly alleged that widespread electoral fraud caused Biden’s victory and encouraged Republicans in Congress to challenge the official electoral count, which would confirm Biden’s victory. Hawley is the first senator to announce he will challenge the vote. Riggleman said on Wednesday that Republicans who chose to join Hawley’s efforts could do so for political reasons.

“Politically for them it could be great for their base, for their fundraising, for things like that, but, nationally, it’s horrible,” Riggleman told MSNBC. “I find it amazing that right now we have Republicans who oppose federalism and want some sort of overthrow or that kind of ‘throw the electoral voters, ignore the states, we’ve already pleaded this and are going forward. “. And the only thing I can say is it’s crazy. “

Riggleman hinted that Hawley decided to accept the challenge of the election vote because he “had to talk to people who thought his fundraising could go much higher if he did something like this.”

Newsweek contacted Hawley’s office for comment.

In a statement on Wednesday, Hawley said he could not “vote to certify the Electoral College on January 6 without mentioning the fact that some states, particularly Pennsylvania, did not follow their own election laws.” Hawley also said companies including Facebook and Twitter intervened in the November election to favor Biden.

“At the very least, Congress should investigate allegations of electoral fraud and take steps to ensure the integrity of our election,” Hawley added. “But so far Congress has failed to act.”

Democrats strongly denounced Hawley’s decision. In a Wednesday appearance on CNN, Democratic Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen called Hawley’s choice “patently irresponsible.”

Van Hollen said Hawley would ‘further undermine public confidence in our democratic process, siding with Trump’s false narrative that the election was, you know, fraudulently won by Joe Biden and what he did now is put it to the vote. in the House and the Senate. “

Republicans challenging the electoral vote are unlikely to overturn the election in favor of Trump. If a challenge is submitted, lawmakers can take up to two hours to debate the objection while the vote count is delayed. After the resumption, Congress would vote on whether to allow the counting of contested results. The House and Senate must agree on the final decision.

Opposing the electoral vote count in Congress could be one of Trump’s last ways to retain the presidency. However, members of Trump’s legal team have pledged to continue prosecuting on his behalf until inauguration day.

In a statement released in December, Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and legal counsel Jenna Ellis said they “will continue to uphold electoral integrity until the legal vote is fairly counted. and precise “.