Several senators from the Republican Party, led by Mitt Romney, have in recent hours condemned the attempts by the team of legal advisers of the outgoing president, Donald Trump, to reverse the results of the elections in the United States, considering that they are a “undemocratic” initiative that erodes “the confidence of public opinion” in the institutions.
“After failing to bring a credible case of widespread fraud to court, the President (Trump) is now resorting to blatant pressure on state and local authorities. I can hardly imagine a more serious and undemocratic action by part of an American president, “said Romney, a senator from Utah and a former candidate for the presidency of the country, in a forceful message posted on his Twitter account.
Romney spoke shortly after the press conference this Thursday night led by Trump’s top adviser, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who brought to the fore groundless conspiracy theories to denounce an alleged “national fraud” in the “big cities controlled by the Democrats,” which he has said “have a long history of corruption.”
Romney has not been alone in the criticism. Also Republican senator from Nebraska Ben Sasse – whom the pools are pointing to as a possible presidential candidate in 2024 – has warned that “savagery of press conferences” such as the view on Thursday “erode the confidence of public opinion.” “We are a nation of laws, not of tweets,” he said in a statement.
Sasse also recalled that “Trump’s lawyers have refused to repeat these suspicions of fraud before a judge because they know the legal consequences of telling a lie in court.” “President Trump has lost the elections in Michigan by more than 100,000 votes,” he recalled, “and his campaign and his allies have lost or abandoned the five lawsuits filed there for lacking any evidence.”
Similarly, the Republican Senator for Iowa Joni Ernst has expressed her rejection of statements made by lawyer Sidney Powell, associated with the Trump campaign, who had accused second-rank Democratic candidates of “paying to manipulate the system”; a statement “offensive” if not “absolutely outrageous,” according to the senator.
Despite this Republican reaction, the leader of the party in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, has yet to openly explain his position on the matter, pending the end of the cycle of lawsuits opened by the president. “In this country there is a way to deal with disputes: it is called ‘going to court,'” he said during a press conference earlier in the week.
McConnell limited himself to adding that the Republican Party, if necessary, will guarantee “a smooth transfer of power” between this administration and the one to come, pending the decisions of the judges. “Anything else we say about it will be downright irrelevant,” he concluded.
