Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-SD) said Monday that a desperate effort by a handful of House members in his party to challenge the Electoral College’s results reaffirming Joe Biden as the next president would “go down like a shot dog.”
“It’s just not going anywhere,” Thune told reporters on Monday, adding that he knows of no senators who have committed to back an effort by several House Republicans to challenge the Electoral College votes when Congress convenes Jan. 6 to open and count certificates from each state that contain a record of electoral votes cast this month which cemented Biden’s win.
“In the Senate it would go down like a shot dog,” Thune said. “I just don’t think it makes a lot of sense to put everybody through this when you know what the ultimate outcome is going to be.”
Thune’s comments came hours after reports that several House GOP members met privately at the White House with President Donald Trump to discuss elements of Trump’s latest election gambit — plans to challenge the Electoral College votes in at least six states.
The Oval Office meeting with Trump included loyalists like Reps. Mo Brooks (AL), Matt Gaetz (FL), Jim Jordan (OH) and Jody Hice (GA) and Rep.-elect Marjorie Greene, among others, per Bloomberg News.
After the meeting, Hice tweeted that he would “lead an objection” to his state’s electors on Jan. 6.
“The courts refuse to hear the President’s legal case. We’re going to make sure the People can!” he added.
Greene tweeted on Friday that she was looking for the support of a senator to back her effort to fight for Trump who she said has always “fought for us.”
Under federal law, Congress will meet in a joint session to reaffirm Biden’s win and are permitted to object to votes from any given state, but any attempt to do so would require a member of both chambers to object in writing — and would almost certainly fail.
Assuming a member of both the Senate and House offered objections both chambers would then have to agree to it by a simple majority vote.
Senate Majority Leader who finally faced the reality of Biden’s win last week has warned GOP senators not to advance a futile effort by any members of the House saying they would have to vote it down and it would be “terrible.”
