McConnell delivers blistering takedown of Trump and GOP lawmakers’ election objections

‘I will vote to respect the people’s decision and to defend our system of government, as we know it,’ longtime Trump ally tells senators

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell delivered a blistering takedown of some Republicans’ first objection to the Electoral College vote, saying the presidential outcome was “not unusually close” and warning the effort to overturn the result could send the country into a “death spiral".

“Nothing before us proves illegality anywhere near the massive scale that would have tipped the entire election. Nor can public doubt alone justify a radical break when the doubt itself was incited without any evidence,” the Kentucky Republican said as the Senate convened to hear an objection to Mr Biden’s victory in Arizona.

“The Constitution gives us here in Congress a limited role. We cannot simply declare ourselves a national board of elections on steroids. The voters, the courts and the states have all spoken,” he said in what also amounted to a rebuttal to Donald Trump’s claims of a “rigged” and “stolen” election. “If we overrule them, it would damage our republic forever.

“This election, actually, was not usually close,” he added. “If this election were overturned by mere allegations by the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral – we’d never see the whole nation accept an election again. Every four years would be a scramble for power at any cost.”

His scathing remarks, during which he turned from his lectern in the well of the Senate and appeared to address his GOP caucus directly, came about an hour after Vice President Mike Pence also publicly broke with Mr Trump, a president to whom both have remained loyal for four years.

Mr Pence told lawmakers in a letter moments before the joint session was gavelled in that he has concluded his office lacks the legal powers to reject Electoral College votes cast for President-elect Joe Biden, even as Mr Trump used a midday rally in Washington to continue pressuring his No. 2 to do just that.

“It is my considered judgment than my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrained me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not,” the vice president wrote to members of Congress.

In a surreal Washington moment, CNN reported Mr Biden was caught on a hot microphone in the House chamber asking an aide: “Did my statement go out?”

Later in the Senate chamber, Mr McConnell argued that any Electoral College vote being overturned could damage the system forever.

“I served 36 years in the senate, this’ll be the most important vote I’ve ever cast. President Trump claims the election was stolen,” he said. “I supported the president’s right to use the legal system. Dozens of lawsuits received hearing in courtrooms across our country. But over and over, the courts rejected these claims.”

The majority leader, who has backed Mr Trump’s staunchly partisan antics, warned senators of both parties against continuing to slide into “two tribes”.

“I will vote to respect the people’s decision and to defend our system of government," he said, pausing, ”as we know it."

Moments later, he was joined in calling out the GOP objectors by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, saying that group was about to “embarrass themselves”.

“They will embarrass their party, and worst of all, they will embarrass their country,” he said, calling it “an insurrection", a “sad commentary on our times" and “an attempted coup”.

Mr Schumer slammed the president to conditioning half of the country to reject any and all election outcomes if their side is defeated: “What message do we send to fledgling democracies?”