Nancy Pelosi shrugs off Josh Hawley’s intention to join House Republicans in challenging election result

Mitch McConnell had pleaded with his caucus to avoid any urge to challenge electoral result

Speaker Nancy Pelosi shrugged off GOP Senator Josh Hawley’s announcement he will join some House Republicans in objecting to Joe Biden’s Electoral College win next week.

“I have no doubt that on next Wednesday … Joe Biden will be confirmed by acceptance of the vote of the Electoral College as the 46th president of the United States,” the California Democrat told reporters during her weekly press conference.

Mr Hawley had announced his intention to force all members of both chambers – including a slew of Republican senators who could face Donald Trump-picked conservative primary challengers if they vote against the challenges – to go on record about the legitimacy of the electoral results.

Mr Biden won the Electoral College vote 306-232, the same margin Mr Trump won by in 2016 and claimed a mandate.  

The freshman Missouri senator, seen as a potential 2024 Republican presidential nominee and former state attorney general, repeated Mr Trump’s unsupported claims of widespread voter fraud in a statement posted on Twitter.

“I cannot vote to certify the electoral college results on January 6 without raising the fact that some states, particularly Pennsylvania, failed to follow their own state election laws," Mr Hawley said.

"And I cannot vote to certify without pointing out the unprecedented effort of mega corporations, including Facebook and Twitter, to interfere in this election, in support of Joe Biden. At the very least, Congress should investigate allegations of voter fraud and adopt measures to secure the integrity of our elections. But Congress has so far failed to act," he added.

The young senator ultimately chose Mr Trump over Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who had asked his caucus earlier this month to resist any urge to join the House Republicans who intend to challenge the result.

What now seems likely is a joint session of Congress that will meet on 6 January to certify the Electoral College result will be forced to split up. 

The House and Senate then will spend several hours in their respective chambers hearing arguments for and against the challenge(s). They will each then vote on whether to uphold or reject the objections.

The Republican objectors, however, are expected to fall well short of the two-thirds majorities needed in each body.

But the roll call results will present Mr Trump with a list of GOP members to potentially target in his coming life as a Republican kingmaker in his post-presidency phase. To that end, in recent days he has tweeted not-so-subtle threats to any Republicans who vote against the challenges – thereby voting to uphold Mr Biden’s victory.

“Unless Republicans have a death wish, and it is also the right thing to do, they must approve the $2000 payments ASAP. $600 IS NOT ENOUGH! Also, get rid of Section 230 - Don’t let Big Tech steal our Country, and don’t let the Democrats steal the Presidential Election. Get tough!" he wrote on Tuesday, also referring to demands he wants the Senate to pass before the end of the legislative year on Saturday.

On 26 December, he called out Mr McConnell by name: “If a Democrat Presidential Candidate had an Election Rigged & Stolen, with proof of such acts at a level never seen before, the Democrat Senators would consider it an act of war, and fight to the death. Mitch & the Republicans do NOTHING, just want to let it pass. NO FIGHT!”