GOP Senators Downplay Trump's Conspiracy Theories Over Election Results
On Monday, top Senate Republicans shrugged off President Donald Trump's repeated claims about the rigged election. They also seemed pretty much unaffected by his equally baseless assertions that he won the recently concluded election.
Trump continues to claim that he won, by lot, despite CNN and other leading networks have already called the race for Democrat Joe Biden, who they confirmed will become the 46th president of the United States. While Democrats raised concerns over Trump's weekend tweets, Republicans disregarded them.
Nebraska Republican Senator Deb Fischer told Senate GOP leadership that Trump could whatever he wants. When asked if she was worried about Trump's comments, Fischer said she couldn't come back if she was affected by everything everyone says.
While several Republicans insist that the formal transition process should be started so that Biden could access classified intelligence briefings and aren't sure if the president's legal challenges will overturn the election results, others are set to challenge Trump's lies about Democrats stealing the election from him. This allegation is not only being rejected by GOP but has also been dismissed by Democratic election officials across the nation.
Ohio's Republican, Sen. Rob Portman, admitted that Biden should start getting the briefing, noting that it would not hurt the Republicans. Aside from him, GOP Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma made similar remarks on a local radio station, and several Republicans have suggested that it is time to begin the transition process.
This isn't the first time Trump added fuel to a major controversy, and Republicans on Capitol Hill have ignored it. However, this time, Trump is repeatedly rolling out one conspiracy theory that many fear could create unrest while having lasting aftermath on the trustworthiness of US elections and confidence in democracy.
Missouri Republican Senator Roy Blunt, who chairs the Senate Rules Committee. shrugged off the president's claims that the election was won with illegal votes. Noting that he isn't overly concerned by Trump's claims, Blunt said there is a process to determine the election winner.
Blunt pointed out that they are about at the end of the period where Trump can make a case in court, adding let him do that. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa supports Biden giving access to classified briefings and undermined Trump's false claims that he won the election and dubious charges that Democrats stole the election from him.
When CNN asked Grassley if the president should be making such comments, he said that would be settled by Dec. 14th, when electors will be meeting in their state capitals and cast their ballots. He said the leader who gets 270 electors would be the next president, adding that there is no sense worrying about anything else.