Republicans

The Washington Post reports: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) plans to formally object to the certification of electors from Arizona during Wednesday’s joint session of Congress, according to a person familiar with the matter, ensuring that the duly certified results from a third state will be challenged by a GOP senator. Cruz has led a coalition of 10 other GOP senators …

CBS News reports: An individual’s duty to retreat before using force has been eliminated in Ohio under a gun rights bill signed by Ohio’s Republican governor on Monday. Gov. Mike DeWine signed the bill despite his vocal concerns that GOP lawmakers were ignoring his own legislation proposed following the 2019 mass shooting in Dayton. The measure expands the so-called “stand …

Politico reports: MAGA figureheads and pro-Trump activists are vowing to excommunicate Republicans who vigorously oppose the doomed effort to keep Trump in power. In the coming days, that MAGA revenge complex could target everyone from low-level members of Congress to Vice President Mike Pence. “Republicans,” Trump warned on Twitter, “NEVER FORGET!” speaking to lawmakers who have said they will not …

Yahoo News reports: Describing President Trump’s phone call with Georgia’s top election official as “frightening,” an Illinois Republican congressman suggested that he now regrets his vote for the president and might even be open to a third party if his GOP colleagues continue to echo baseless conspiracy claims about a stolen election. In an interview with Yahoo News’ “Skullduggery” podcast, …

Washington DC’s Fox News affiliate reports: Missouri U.S. Senator Josh Hawley said his family was targeted by vandals and protesters late Monday evening. Hawley, who has been a leading voice in the effort to hold up Wednesday’s certification of the Electoral College vote, sent a tweet that his wife and newborn daughter were at their home in the Washington D.C.-area …

Fox News reports: “Elections are the bedrock of our democracy and the American people deserve to be 100% confident in our election systems and its outcomes. But right now, tens of millions of Americans have real concerns about the way in which the November Presidential election was conducted—and I share their concerns,” Loeffler said in a statement. “The American people …

CNN reports: Georgia’s Republican lieutenant governor on Monday condemned President Donald Trump’s phone call with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, saying the President’s effort to pressure the state’s top election official to falsify election results was “inappropriate.” “I am 100% certified to tell you that it was inappropriate. And it certainly did not help the situation,” Geoff Duncan told CNN’s …

From the Wall Street Journal editorial board: The Electoral College gambit won’t work this week because House Democrats won’t go along, but imagine if Republicans ran the House and did. Eighty-one million Americans who voted for Mr. Biden would be disenfranchised by an insider scheme. The political response would be volcanic, and understandably so. Republicans would be crushed in the …

Via press release from GOP Sen. Tom Cotton: The Founders entrusted our elections chiefly to the states—not Congress. They entrusted the election of our president to the people, acting through the Electoral College—not Congress. And they entrusted the adjudication of election disputes to the courts—not Congress. Under the Constitution and federal law, Congress’s power is limited to counting electoral votes …

Newsweek reports: Lauren Boebert, a Republican who was recently elected as a representative of western Colorado to the United States Congress, said Sunday night that she plans to carry a weapon to the lower house. Boebert did not mince words in her tweet. “Let me tell you why I WILL carry my Glock to Congress. … Government does NOT get …

CNN reports: The audio recording was reported by the Post several hours after Trump said on Twitter that he had spoken to Raffensperger on the phone in an attempt to convince him to look into unfounded conspiracy theories about the vote in November. According to Trump, Raffensperger refused to do so. In response, Raffensperger cryptically delivered a strong message to …

Axios reports: GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney (Wyo.) wrote in a memo to her Republican conference on Sunday that “objections set an exceptionally dangerous precedent,” NBC’s Alex Moe first reported and Axios has confirmed. Cheney singled out Cruz’s proposal for a commission as “even more problematic” and asked if Republicans backing the effort realized “they were in essence proposing to …

The Washington Post reports: Former House speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) excoriated congressional efforts to challenge Biden’s win, warning that perpetuating the notion of an illegitimate result strikes “at the foundation of our republic.” In a statement Sunday, Ryan said it was difficult to “to conceive of a more anti-democratic and anti-conservative act than a federal intervention to overturn the …

Politico reports: A group of seven House Republicans — including Freedom Caucus members such as Ken Buck (Colo.) and Chip Roy (Texas) as well as Rep.-elect Nancy Mace (S.C.) and libertarian Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) — put out a rare and lengthy statement Sunday afternoon opposing the effort to challenge election. They argue that the constitution makes clear that states …

Politico reports: Sen. Ted Cruz on Sunday condemned those attacking him for his challenge to the certification of the presidential election, saying they were using “angry language.” Speaking on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo,” the Texas senator responded to his critics on both sides of the aisle. “I think everyone needs to calm down,” he said. “I …

From a statement issued today by Sen. Lindsey Graham: Proposing a commission at this late date – which has zero chance of becoming reality – is not effectively fighting for President Trump. It appears to be more of a political dodge than an effective remedy. I do look forward to hearing from and will listen closely to the objections of …

“You and your colleagues have created this controversy. We are now locked into a destructive vicious circle. You made an allegation that there was widespread fraud, you have failed to offer specific evidence of that widespread fraud, but you’re demanding an investigation on the grounds that there are allegations of widespread fraud. So essentially, you’re the arsonist here. President Trump …

“The die is cast for the Republican Party. It will be destroyed on January 6th in much the same way the Whig party was destroyed by the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. The act unraveled the Missouri compromise and allowed for the westward expansion of slavery. “The party could not survive its factionalism. There could be no more …

Penn Live reports: Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Reese died Saturday afternoon after suffering an apparent brain aneurysm, his family announced. Reese — who was elected in 2008 to serve parts of Westmoreland and Somerset counties — was 42 years old. He is survived by his wife Angela and three children. Reese was elected to Republican caucus chairman for the 2020–21 session. …

From a statement issued today by Sen. Mitt Romney: The egregious ploy to reject electors may enhance the political ambition of some, but dangerously threatens our Democratic Republic. The congressional power to reject electors is reserved for the most extreme and unusual circumstances. These are far from it. More Americans participated in this election than ever before, and they made …