In an election where people feel uneasy about the validity of the ballots that could make Donald Trump a one-term president, Republicans are pushing for the Attorney General to intervene and take action.
The counting of votes from the major states indicates a victory for former Vice President Joe Biden, and if the Associated Press’ call for Arizona is in his favor, Biden is only six votes short of becoming president. Trump, however, has by no means given up hopes for a second term in office and claims that if only “legal” ballots were counted, he would be the clear winner.
Thirty-nine Republican Congressmen sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr on Friday, asking two questions: “What are you doing to ensure the integrity of the voting and counting process at this time” and “Will you commit to using every means at your disposal to ensure that only legal votes are counted and that counting is done immediately and in a fully transparent manner?
When they asked Barr to call in the Department of Justice, the Congressional Republicans said that the “responsibility for the integrity of the federal election” rested with the Department of Justice. Faced with “widespread reports of irregularities,” they told Barr that it was time for him to use the resources of the DoJ to “ensure that the process is conducted in a manner that is fully consistent with state and federal laws.
“And it is also important that the process be fully transparent so that the American people have full confidence in the outcome,” the letter said.
The Republican Congressmen not only ensured that people had access to the ballot boxes, but also said that the DoJ had a responsibility to ensure that “no one’s vote is invalidated by any means of voter fraud.
One problem that the Trump campaign had with the election process is that the Philadelphia observers originally had to be about 20 feet away from where the ballots were counted. This distance, Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani argued, affected their ability to “observe” the process because they could not see the ballots being counted. In a lawsuit filed by Trump, a judge sided with the Trump campaign and allowed the election observers to move within three feet of the ballots.
Republicans in Congress wrote in their letter to Barr that the U.S. Marshals Service is available to ensure that court orders are carried out, including one allowing the election observers to observe the counting of the ballots.
On Friday night, the Republican caucus in the House of Representatives had a two-hour meeting with the President’s team, according to Congressman Scott DesJarlais, who signed the letter to Barr and reviewed the evidence presented on “election issues. DesJarlais added that the House of Representatives’ Republican team is also working on “specific identifiable issues that can be challenged in court. DesJarlais blamed the media and big tech, such as Trump at a press conference on Thursday, saying they were “far from throwing in the towel,” noting that the narrow margins between candidates in the major swing states
Washington Newsday asked the Justice Department for a statement, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Congressman Paul Gosar, who won re-election on Tuesday, wrote on Twitter that he had sent similar letters saying that Barr and the DoJ were “sleeping”.
“Without action now, there will be no next week or next month. The scam is happening now. Machines can now be confiscated. Elections are now taking place. Not next year,” Gosar said.
Along with the Republicans in Congress who urged Barr to act, the Nevada GOP also put pressure on him. On Thursday, their lawyers sent a criminal complaint to Barr citing “at least 3,062 cases of election fraud,” although they expect this number to “rise significantly.
Nevada could be the “make-or-break” state of affairs in the election, because if Biden wins in Arizona, Nevada will reach the 270 vote threshold with its six votes to declare victory. Assuming Biden keeps Arizona, he will have to take over four of the five states still to be named for Trump to win: Pennsylvania, Nevada, North Carolina and Georgia. He can do it sic
