Former President George W. Bush’s senior adviser Karl Rove dismissed Sen. Ted Cruz’s planned objection to the Electoral College certification of President-elect Joe Biden, calling it a “stunt.”
Rove, in an appearance on Fox News Monday afternoon, said the Texas Republican is objecting because he has sights set on running for president in 2024. Cruz and 11 other Republicans objecting announced their intention to last week, days after Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri became the first member of the Senate to publicly say they would object.
“Well, it’s a PR gesture. A stunt,” he said. “We had one senator, Josh Hawley of Missouri, who said I’m going to stop certification. That was never going to happen because the House is not going to go along with it.”
The group, led by Cruz, includes Marsha Blackburn, Ron Johnson, John Kennedy, Mike Braun, Steve Daines, James Lankford, and newly inaugurated senators Bill Hagerty, Cynthia Lummis, Tommy Tuberville, and Roger Marshall claims that “voter fraud has posed a persistent challenge in our elections, although its breadth and scope are disputed.”
The group called for the appointment of an “electoral commission” with full investigatory authority to carry out a 10-day emergency audit of the Nov. 3 election results in the states where President Trump and his allies have alleged fraud.
“Another aspirant for 2024, Ted Cruz decides well, I’ve gotta be in this game, so I’m going to call for an emergency commission that’s going in the next ten days resolve issues that we haven’t been able to resolve conclusively in the last two months. And that ain’t going to happen because the House is not going to go along with this,” Rove said. “So this is sound and fury, signifying little or nothing, and it is not going to resolve the issue.”
The senators who object to the certification will be doing so in conjunction with about 140 House Republicans, according to Rep. Louie Gohmert. In doing so, they can force two-hour long deliberations and subsequent votes, however, their efforts will almost certainly fail based on the number of Republicans who are not planning to go along with the endeavor.
A number of other Republicans, in addition to Hawley and Cruz, who have previously eyed a presidential run or who are said to be considering one in 2024, have also responded to the objection efforts.
“Nevertheless, the Founders entrusted our elections chiefly to the states—not Congress. … Congress’s power is limited to counting electoral votes submitted by the states,” said Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton. “If Congress purported to overturn the results of the Electoral College, it would not only exceed that power but also establish unwise precedents. … Thus, I will not oppose the counting of certified electoral votes on Jan. 6.”
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, an ardent supporter of the president, who lost to Trump in the 2016 primary, rebuked Cruz’s plan, another failed 2016 GOP candidate. “Proposing a commission at this late date … is not effectively fighting for President Trump,” Graham said. “It appears to be more of a political dodge than an effective remedy.”
