Vice President Mike Pence said Saturday that he “welcomes the efforts” of Republican lawmakers to “bring forward evidence” of voter fraud and irregularities to Congress on Jan. 6.
Pence, in his role as president of the Senate, is expected to preside over the proceedings to certify the election results on Wednesday.
“Vice President Pence shares the concerns of millions of Americans about voter fraud and irregularities in the last election,” said Pence’s chief of staff Marc Short in a statement. “The Vice President welcomes the efforts of members of the House and Senate to use the authority they have under the law to raise objections and bring forward evidence before the Congress and the American people on January 6th.”
Reports in December charged that President Trump was frustrated with Pence, believing his vice president was not sufficiently committed to helping him overturn the election results.
After meeting with Pence for more than an hour last week, Trump retweeted a message instructing his vice president to “act” to halt the certification of election results.
On Saturday, a delegation of at least 11 current and incoming Republican senators led by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said they would vote to challenge President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College win by determining some states as not “lawfully certified” unless there’s an audit of the Nov. 3 election results.
“We intend to vote on January 6 to reject the electors from disputed states as not ‘regularly given’ and ‘lawfully certified,'” the group said in a statement on Saturday. “Unless and until that emergency 10-day audit is completed.”
The senators joining Cruz include Ron Johnson of Missouri, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Steve Daines of Montana, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, and Mike Braun of Indiana. Senators-elect Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.
Separately, Missouri GOP Sen. Josh Hawley is seeking a challenge but responded to the senators announcement on Saturday that he hopes “many more will listen to their constituents and act.”
Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah rejected the effort underway to stymie Biden’s Electoral College win.
“The egregious ploy to reject electors may enhance the political ambition of some, but dangerously threatens our Democratic Republic,” Romney said late Saturday. “The congressional power to reject electors is reserved for the most extreme and unusual circumstances. These are far from it.”
He continued: “I could never have imagined seeing these things in the greatest democracy in the world. Has ambition so eclipsed principle?”
Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert’s lawsuit against Pence, intended to deliver Pence “exclusive authority” to determine which Electoral College votes are certifiable, was dismissed by a federal judge on Friday.
Biden secured the Electoral College 306-232. He won the popular vote, with 81.2 million ballots, with Trump earning 7 million fewer.
Sydney Shea contributed to the reporting of this article.
