"The president and his allies are playing with fire,"

[Tin tức]

GOP Sen. Ben Sasse calls out Republicans who plan to challenge the election results on January 6, calling them 'institutional arsonist members of Congress'

By John Haltiwanger and Oma Seddiq



Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska on Wednesday ripped into his GOP colleagues planning to object to the certification of the Electoral College vote on January 6, a process that cements President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election.

Sasse, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, accused his fellow Republicans of attempting to score cheap political points with Trump's base by embracing his baseless voter fraud claims.

"The president and his allies are playing with fire," Sasse said in a lengthy Facebook post Wednesday night. "If you make big claims, you had better have the evidence. But the president doesn't and neither do the institutional arsonist members of Congress who will object to the Electoral College vote."

"Let's be clear what is happening here: We have a bunch of ambitious politicians who think there's a quick way to tap into the president's populist base without doing any real, long-term damage. But they're wrong — and this issue is bigger than anyone's personal ambitions," Sasse wrote. "Adults don't point a loaded gun at the heart of legitimate self-government."

"All the clever arguments and rhetorical gymnastics in the world won't change the fact that this January 6th effort is designed to disenfranchise millions of Americans simply because they voted for someone in a different party. We ought to be better than that," he added.

Sasse's post came hours after Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, a staunch ally of Trump's, announced that he'll object to the certification, the first senator to say they'll do so.

Hawley joins a group of House Republicans who've also said they'll object. This move will delay the certification of Biden's win, but will not ultimately change the outcome of the election.

GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois also criticized Hawley, mocking the senator over his political ambitions. Hawley is thought to be considering a run for president in 2024. Sasse is also rumored to be a 2024 presidential candidate.

Replying to a tweet from the Missouri Republican that announced his plans to object to certification, Kinzinger said: "Internal monologue: 'I want to be President so I decided to try to get POTUS tweet saying I'm great even though I know this isn't going anywhere, but hey... I'll blame someone else when it fails.'"



Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, a former Republican turned Libertarian, also blasted GOP efforts to challenge the certification process.

In his initial announcement, Hawley argued that millions "of voters concerned about election integrity deserve to be heard," to which Amash responded via tweet: "They're concerned because of an election fraud hoax that he himself helped perpetuate."

During a conference call on Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell repeatedly questioned Hawley on his plans to object to the certification, though it turned out Hawley wasn't on the call, per Politico.

Trump and his allies have waged and lost dozens of legal battles in an effort to overturn the election results in the president's favor. He still has not acknowledged his defeat, though he is due to leave office on Inauguration Day on January 20.