Republicans

The Washington Post reports: In a joint statement Wednesday morning, 37 House Republicans said they would vote to sustain objections to the electoral college tallies of multiple states, asserting that Congress is “the last bulwark in a presidential election to ensure the Constitution has been followed.” In their statement Wednesday, the GOP lawmakers argued again that those states improperly changed …

Politico reports: The GOP blame game has expanded beyond Trump to some of his party acolytes. One party official suggested RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel — Trump’s hand-picked party leader — should step down, only a day ahead of the Republican National Committee’s annual Winter Meeting in Amelia Island, Fla. “I think the blame will be spread around, but a party …

Axios reports: Republicans, who enabled President Trump with their silence and compliance, are privately furious with him for blowing their Senate majority. Why it matters: It’s a fitting and predictable end to Trump’s reign. The party has now lost the House, Senate and White House on his watch. He leaves Democrats in full control of Washington’s agenda, with only the …

CNN reports: Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, has tested positive for coronavirus, he announced Tuesday. Brady — who was on the floor voting this week, including on Sunday — added that he will “Begin treatment tomorrow” and should “be fine.” News of Brady’s diagnosis comes on the heels of another member …

Mediaite reports: Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) was confronted by furious supporters or President Donald Trump at an airport and on a flight, according to emerging footage taken by the hecklers.   The airport incident started with a woman approaching Romney, who was looking down at his iPad in a terminal while waiting for his flight. “How are you doing?” the apparently …

Reuters reports: Despite growing pressure from President Trump to help overturn his election loss, Vice President Mike Pence plans to stick to his ceremonial duties when presiding in Congress on Wednesday, advisers said. Pence plans to make clear in his statements that he backs the president but will stick to the constraints of his role, a former White House official …

The Associated Press reports: Protesters who gathered outside the Virginia home of Republican Sen. Josh Hawley Monday evening were peaceful and they left when police explained they were violating local picketing laws, police said Tuesday. The Missouri senator on Twitter accused the protesters of vandalism and threatening his family. Officers were called to Hawley’s home in Vienna, a Washington suburb, …

Axios reports: Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) will certify Joe Biden’s Electoral College win, refusing to join the growing number of Republicans planning to object to the process, Axios has learned. Scott, who joins several veteran Republican senators standing firm against President Trump’s efforts to overturn his legitimate election defeat, sparked buzz about a 2024 presidential run after getting the red …

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 …