Name: Mitt Romney blasts 12 fellow GOP Senators as infighting intensifies
Brand: dailymail.co.uk
SKU: dailymail-co-uk-174
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Mitt Romney blasts 12 fellow GOP Senators as infighting intensifies

preview

&nbsp;Tuesday, Sep 13th 2022| 3.5kMitt Romney has slammed 12 of his fellow Republican senators following news they plan to object to certifying 's win when Electoral College results are tallied in Congress next week.In a statement released on Saturday night, Romney described the move as an 'egregious ploy that 'dangerously threatens our Democratic Republic.'The dozen rogue Republican senators who say they'll oppose the vote certification include of Texas and Josh Hawley of .&nbsp;Both men have been touted as future leaders of the , and may be eyeing a run for the White House in 2024.&nbsp;In his statement, Romney said he believed the senators' 'ambition had eclipsed principle'.&nbsp;He also claimed that the decision not to certify the Electoral College results 'has the predictable potential to lead to disruption, and worse.'&nbsp;&nbsp;Romney is not the only Republican senator to oppose the rogue group.&nbsp;Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski - who are both moderates - have similarly sent out messages voicing their disapproval.&nbsp;'I acknowledge that this past election, like all elections, had irregularities. But the evidence is overwhelming that Joe Biden won this election,' Toomey posted on Twitter.Murkowski said in a statement: ' I will vote to affirm the 2020 presidential election. The courts and state legislatures have all honored their duty to hear legal allegations and have found nothing to warrant overturning the results.' The outrage from Romney, Toomey and Murkowski came just hours after Ted Cruz and 10 other GOP senators announced they were&nbsp;&nbsp;demanding the appointment of an emergency commission to conduct a 10-day audit of the election returns in 'disputed states'.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Until such a commission is appointed, they declared that they&nbsp; intend to vote on January 6 to reject the electors from those states - a largely symbolic move that has little chance of preventing Biden from taking office.&nbsp;The 11 senators will effectively be joined by Sen. Hawley, who earlier this week became the first sitting member of the &nbsp;to announce he would challenge the election result.&nbsp;Cruz was joined in the statement by Senators Ron Johnson, James Lankford, Steve Daines, John Kennedy, Marsha Blackburn, Mike Braun, along with Cynthia Lummis, Tommy Tuberville, Bill Hagerty, and Roger Marshall, all of whom will be sworn in as senators on Sunday in the new Congress.&nbsp;In a statement, Cruz and the other senators said they intend to vote to reject electors from swing states that have been at the center of President Donald Trump's unproven assertions of election fraud and will call for the establishment of a commission to investigate claims of fraud on an emergency basis.&nbsp;'We intend to vote on January 6 to reject the electors from disputed states as not `regularly given´ and `lawfully certified´ (the statutory requisite), unless and until that emergency 10-day audit is completed,' they wrote in the statement.'We do not take this action lightly,' they said.It comes in defiance of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, who has pleaded with his caucus not to attempt to block certification of the Electoral College results.In conference calls with colleagues, McConnell has reportedly argued that any attempt to block certification of Biden would be futile, and only divide the party.&nbsp; A number of Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives also plan on contesting the vote tally.The days ahead are expected to do little to change the outcome. Biden is set to be inaugurated January 20 after winning the Electoral College vote 306-232.Senator Hawley of Missouri was the first to defy McConnell by announcing he would join House Republicans in objecting to the state tallies during Wednesday's joint session of Congress.The moves drew swift condemnation from Democrats, including former Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, who tweeted 'There are actually 12 Senators 'pointing a loaded gun' at the heart of democracy. They should always be known as the #dirtydozen.'The Dirty Dozen was a 1967 war film about about ragtag group of hardened criminals who were recruited to form an elite Allied commando unit sent on a virtual suicide mission against high-ranking Nazi officers.On the other side of the Republican party's split, Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska warned such challenges are a 'dangerous ploy' threatening the nation´s civic norms.The issue is forcing Republicans to make choices that will set the contours of the post-Trump era and an evolving GOP. Caught in the middle is Vice President Mike Pence, who faces growing pressure and a lawsuit from Trump´s allies over his ceremonial role in presiding over the session Wednesday.'I will not be participating in a project to overturn the election,' Sasse wrote in a lengthy social media post. Sasse, a potential 2024 presidential contender, said he was 'urging my colleagues also to reject this dangerous ploy.'Share what you thinkThe comments below have not been moderated.The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.We are no longer accepting comments on this article.Published by Associated Newspapers LtdPart of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday &amp; Metro Media Group&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

&nbsp;Tuesday, Sep 13th 2022| 3.5kMitt Romney has slammed 12 of his fellow Republican senators following news they plan to object to certifying 's win when Electoral College results are tallied in Congress next week.In a statement released on Saturday night, Romney described the move as an 'egregious ploy that 'dangerously threatens our Democratic Republic.'The dozen rogue Republican senators who say they'll oppose the vote certification include of Texas and Josh Hawley of .&nbsp;Both men have been touted as future leaders of the , and may be eyeing a run for the White House in...

public

Andrew Court

For the latest updates on breaking news visit our website: http://dailymail.co.uk 🇬🇧

Mitt Romney blasts 12 fellow GOP Senators as infighting intensifies

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS