Rep. Mo Brooks says he plans to challenge the Electoral College vote when Congress is expected to officially certify President-Elect Joe Biden’s victory on Jan. 6.
The Alabama Republican says he is also looking for a GOP senator to join him in the effort, though he said he has had no direct communication with any senator thus far.
“In my judgment, based on what I know to be true, Joe Biden was the largest beneficiary of illegally cast votes in the history of the United States,” Brooks said in a phone interview with AL.com today. “And I can either ratify that illegal vote system, or I can object to it, in hopes that our election system will become more secure in future elections.”
Brooks said he may still object to the vote counting process by himself, even though he acknowledged to Politico that would be more of a symbolic protest.
In a series of radio interviews, speeches and tweets, Brooks has echoed the charges of President Donald Trump and his supporters that the Nov. 3 election was “badly flawed” and that most mail-in voting is “unconstitutional.” In today’s interview, Brooks said he has had no conversations about his potential challenge with President Trump or anyone in his administration.
Brooks said similar objections have been made by members of Congress to Electoral College votes in 2017, 2005 and 1969. He is basing his objection on three issues, apart from those being addressed in court challenges by Trump’s legal team. He said Biden received an undetermined number of votes from non-citizens in states that do not ask for proof of citizenship, as well as votes in states with what he said were inadequate voter ID laws.
At the same time, he argued, Biden was the recipient of a majority of mail-in ballots, some of which were collected outside the 24-hour period of Election Day, Nov. 3. Brooks said this method of voting is “subject to voting fraud and error.” All three factors, he argued, benefited Biden.
“If you saw the vote totals coming in, it’s quite clear that Joe Biden enjoyed a huge advantage in these mailed-out ballot schemes,” he said. “You add those three things together, plus all the anecdotal stuff you’re seeing around the country in these lawsuits that have been filed, and they cumulatively cause me to believe that if only lawful votes cast by eligible, American citizens were counted, Donald Trump easily won the Electoral College.”
Talking to Politico, Brooks said the election was “stolen.”
“In my judgment, if only lawful votes by eligible American citizens were cast, Donald Trump won the Electoral College by a significant margin, and Congress’s certification should reflect that,” Brooks told Politico. “This election was stolen by the socialists engaging in extraordinary voter fraud and election theft measures.”
Brooks said people who believe Biden won the election fairly are “entitled to their opinion.”
Still, the move to overturn the election results in Congress is almost certain to fail, given the political makeup of the House and Senate. Brooks said the Supreme Court is not the lawful authority to determine the validity of a state’s electors.
“A lot of time is being wasted in court,” Brooks told Politico. “And so it’s the United States Congress that is the final judge and jury of whether to accept or reject Electoral College submissions by states, and to elect who the president and vice president of the United States might be.”
The President’s legal team has made several unsuccessful court challenges to the vote totals in several states, arguing fraud and irregularities. Yesterday Attorney General William Barr said the Justice Department has not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
Source : Alabama News
