Republican Senator Ron Johnson said Wednesday that he doesn't plan to join a few House Republicans in challenging Electoral College votes after Mitch McConnell pleaded with GOP senators not to participate for the sake of the party.
'I don't think it's going to happen,' Johnson told reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday of the effort to challenge the electors. 'I'm certainly not going to do it.'
The Trump loyalist who represents Wisconsin in the Senate has previously not said whether he would challenge the election results, but asserted Wednesday that Joe Biden is officially the president-elect after the Electoral College voted on Monday to cement his victory.
Republican Senator Josh Hawley, however, did not rule out the potential of becoming the upper chamber member who challenges the results, sparking a vote on the matter.
'I'm studying the issue,' Hawley told reporters on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. 'My sense is what's been done in the past in the last 20 years in those elections is Democrats used the opportunity to raise concerns about the process. It's really the only forum that that senators and members of Congress have in order to do that. So, I'm going to do my due diligence and we'll see.'
As some House Republicans vow to move forward with challenging electors' votes, Senate Majority Leader McConnell warned on a call with the caucus that they should not further indulge the plan. He claimed it would split the party, ultimately fail and have the appearance of the majority of the GOP supporting an 'anti-Trump vote.'
Hawley, when asked about McConnell's warning, said 'every senator has got to make up his or her own mind' and do 'what they think best represents their constituents.'
'So, we'll see,' he added.
Following the Electoral College voting on Monday, the next step in Biden taking office will be on January 6, when Congress certifies the election for the former vice president. A small group of Republican lawmakers are already promising to thwart that effort.
President Donald Trump expressed his ire at McConnell's efforts to stop Republicans in the upper chamber from supporting the plan, claiming it's 'too soon to give up' on attempts to 'fight' the election results.
Senator Ron Johnson said Wednesday that he will not join House Republicans by challenging Electoral College votes when Congress moves to certify the election for Joe Biden January 6. 'I don't think it's going to happen,' Johnson told reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday. 'I'm certainly not going to do it'
Senator Josh Hawley, however, didn't rule out the possibility of being the one Republican in the Senate to force dleiberation on the matter
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urged Republican senators in a call not to join the House efforts claiming it would split the party and ultimately fail. He also congratulated Joe Biden as 'president-elect' during Senate floor remarks Tuesday
Trump immediately lashed out at McConnell, claiming it's 'too soon to give up' as he reposted an article from DailyMail.com detailing Republicans' opposition to McConnell's plea
He also reposted comments from Representative Mo Brooks on Tuesday claiming Trump won the Electoral College. Brooks is spearheading the Electoral College vote challenge in Congress and courting Republican senators to join the cause
Brooks was courting Rand Paul, but the Kentucky senator said Wednesday: 'I haven't thought about it, or made any plans to do anything'
'Mitch, 75,000,000 VOTES, a record for a sitting President (by a lot),' Trump tweeted along with an article from DailyMail.com detailing Republicans' slamming McConnell for his comments. 'Too soon to give up. Republican Party must finally learn to fight. People are angry!'
House members, led by Alabama Representative Mo Brooks, have been courting Republican Senators, such as Johnson and Kentucky's Rand Paul, to join them in the challenge.
Paul said he currently doesn't have any plans to join in on challenging Electoral College votes from five swing states that went blue this year – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
'I haven't thought about it, or made any plans to do anything,' he told reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday after previously not commenting on the matter.
When asked about McConnell urging the caucus yesterday not to object, Paul claimed: 'I wasn't part of that phone call.'
Brooks has acknowledged that his effort would most likely be a symbolic protest rather than an actual avenue toward overturning the election results.
To officially launch deliberations on the matter, at least one House and Senate member needs to challenge electors' votes before Congress would vote on accepting or throwing out specific states' Electoral College votes.
Johnson, who chairs the Homeland Security Committee, is holding a hearing Wednesday looking at alleged 'irregularities' in the 2020 presidential election.
'This hearing is simply what should be ongoing oversight to restore confidence in our election system so that the next election has the controls in place and we answer these questions and so we have greater confidence in the legitimacy of the next election,' he said, attempting to dispel rumors that the hearing is a way for him to object to Biden's victory.
'You have to take the allegations seriously,' Johnson said. 'You can't just ignore it.'
Trump claimed Tuesday that people are 'angry' after McConnell congratulated Biden from the Senate floor. At the same time, some of Trump's most ardent loyalists vented their fury at the Republican leader.
'The Electoral College has spoken,' McConnell said Tuesday morning during floor remarks, before adding he wanted to 'congratulate the President-elect Joe Biden' and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
On Twitter Tuesday, Trump also highlighted anger from incoming Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican and QAnon follower, who said she will join Brooks in challenging the Electoral College results.
He also reposted a racially-charged attack on McConnell's Chinese-American wife by Lin Wood, a lawyer who has brought a string of failed election lawsuits with 'Kraken' attorney Sidney Powell.
'Every 'Republican' that isn't fighting for @realDonaldTrump's 2020 landslide victory is supporting the Chinese Communist Party takeover of America,' Greene tweeted following McConnell's remarks.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, an incoming Georgia representative, is joining Brooks' effort to overturn the election, and lashed out after McConnell's call on Tuesday
Trump campaign attorney Lin Wood went even further, calling McConnell a 'traitor' and vowing: 'His day of judgment is coming.'
McConnell 'is NOT a Patriot. Ask his wife. She knows,' wrote Wood, referring to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, McConnell's wife of 27 years, who is a Chinese-American.
'McConnell just wants power, influence, & money. He is willing to sell America to get what he wants. McConnell is a traitor to American Patriots,' Wood continued.
Recently pardoned former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn joined the outcry, retweeting a Twitter user who called on 'American patriots' to let 'McConnell know we aren't on board with his 'President Elect Biden' mindset.'
Flynn told Trump: 'millions & millions & millions of Patriots stand behind, alongside & in front of you during this crucible moment in US History where our very Republic is on the line. We won't fail or cower like some in the Republican Party have shown.'
Sebastian Gorka, a conservative radio host who served briefly in the Trump administration, accused McConnell of caving to 'the mob' by conceding the election to Biden before the final January 6 count of the Electoral College in Congress.
Fox News host Mark Levin also joined the fray, tweeting 'thanks for nothing, Mitch.'
'Trump helped you secure your seat, as he did so man Senate and House seats, and you couldn't even wait until January 6th,' added Levin. 'You've been the GOP 'leader' in the Senate for far too long. It's time for some fresh thinking and new blood.'
Hard-right commentator Nicholas J. Fuentes, who has been leading 'Stop the Steal' rallies across the country, tweeted simply: 'McConnell is a traitor and a RINO.'
The acronym 'RINO' stands for 'Republican in name only.'
On Tuesday, McConnell warned his fellow GOP senators not to join Trump's continued attempts to overturn the Electoral College results.
In private discussion, McConnell reportedly warned Republican senators away from disputing the Electoral College tally when Congress convenes in a joint session January 6 to confirm the results.
That fight would yield a 'terrible vote' for Republicans, McConnell told the senators, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss the call, which was first reported by Politico. They would have to choose whether to back Trump or publicly buck him.
Republicans are worried about bad effects on the Georgia runoff election, where two incumbent Republican senators, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, face Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in a state that flipped in November for Biden.
McConnell has been a strong supporter of most Trump efforts. But the turn of events six weeks after Election Day showed the Kentucky senator, backed by his leadership team, seeking to normalize relations with the coming Biden presidency while avoiding the spectacle of pitched floor fight that would divide the party as Trump reluctantly leaves office.
