According to CNN on the 28th, former Republican Senator Josh Hawley, who previously supported challenging the election results, said that he opposed Biden’s victory not to keep Trump in power.
Although it had previously been hinted that Trump could continue to rule if the United States would take some action, Hamley insisted on the 28th that he never intended to overturn the presidential election by opposing Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania.
After Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6 to try to prevent Congress from confirming Biden’s victory, Holly was criticized for questioning the results of the Pennsylvania election.
Democratic senators asked the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate his behavior, while others asked him and Republican Senator Ted Cruz ( Ted Cruz resigned.
However, Hamley told CNN that he “does not regret” his decision, saying that “I was clear from the beginning that I had never tried to overturn the election results”.
But CNN pointed out that before January 6, Hamley did not rule out the possibility that Congress would overturn the election results and let Trump continue to govern.
On January 4, Hamley was asked in an interview with Fox News: “Are you trying to say that Trump will continue as president on January 20?” Hamley replied, “It depends on Wednesday (January 6). I mean, that’s why we have to debate.
That’s why we have the right to vote.” Hawley repeatedly refused to admit that Congress could not change the outcome of Biden’s victory.
CNN questioned Hamley’s contradictory statement on the 28th.
He claimed that he had never tried to overturn the election results, but he said on January 4 that Trump was still likely to be elected president, depending on “what happened” on January 6, when he refused to rule out the possibility of Congress overturning the election results.
Hawley argued that he insisted that January 6 was the last day of the election process, and that his sole purpose of opposing the certification results was to spark debate on Pennsylvania’s voting system.
“I told the Fox News host at the time that I’ve been saying, for me, January 6 is the end of the process, the time to count, certify, and formally declare the winner of the election, according to the Constitution,” Hawley said.
For me, this is the end point.” Hamley was reluctant to say whether he should answer Fox host questions in a different way and give an accurate answer: Biden will be the next president, because Congress will never overturn the election results.
He said that his words would be misinterpreted anyway.
Hawley said, “I think those twists, misunderstood and attack a lot of lies, no matter what I say or do, they will lie anyway.
They will say you want to overturn the election results, they will say you incite violence, all of which are lies.”
CNN reported that Hamley’s objection on January 6 was significant, because if at least one representative and one senator objected to the election results of a state and passed by a majority vote in both houses, Congress could veto the electoral vote.
But due to bipartisan opposition to efforts to repeal any state election results, Hamley move was doomed to failure.
CNN pointed out that after he became the first senator to declare opposition, Hamley actually gave hope to pro-Trump activists and his fanatical supporters that defeated Trump could still retain power.
However, Hamley insisted on the 28th that he was only trying to trigger a debate about Pennsylvania voting “infractions”, rather than changing the outcome.
In fact, long before this, U.S. federal and state judges have dismissed several Republican lawsuits alleging “contraventions” and “illegal voting” in Pennsylvania.
At that time, Democratic and Republican election officials confirmed the results of each Pennsylvania county, rejecting the Republican Party’s baseless claim that the results were tarnished by “fraud or misconduct”.
