The top of the Home Democratic Caucus warned Tuesday that voters shouldn’t have any religion in Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to certify this 12 months’s presidential election outcomes due to his function in selling former President Trump’s false claims a couple of “rigged” contest in 2020.
“He doesn’t have a track record that would indicate to the American people that he should be believed,” Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) mentioned throughout a press briefing within the Capitol.
The cost got here shortly after Johnson, showing on the identical press-room podium, had vowed to again the certification of the winner of this 12 months’s contest between Trump and Vice President Harris — if the elections are “free, fair and safe.”
“Of course. If we have a free, fair and safe election, we’re going to follow the Constitution,” Johnson informed reporters. “Absolutely, yes.”
Democrats have their doubts, noting that within the aftermath of the 2020 election Johnson promoted Trump’s baseless claims that the election was “rigged” by a conspiracy of corrupt election officers, international governments and underhanded software program corporations.
“The allegations about these voting machines, some of them being rigged with this software by Dominion, there’s a lot of merit to that,” Johnson mentioned on the time.
Final 12 months, Dominion secured a $787.5 million settlement from Fox Information in a defamation swimsuit after the broadcaster aired claims that the corporate had tilted the outcomes towards President Biden.
Johnson, a former constitutional lawyer, additionally led the trouble to get fellow Home Republicans to endorse an amicus transient backing Texas’s authorized problem of the 2020 ends in Pennsylvania — a case dismissed by the Supreme Court docket.
And it was Johnson who devised the authorized justification for difficult Trump’s defeat, which accused some states that had altered their voting guidelines throughout the pandemic of performing unconstitutionally — an argument adopted by many Republicans within the Capitol. He was amongst 120 Home Republicans who voted in opposition to certifying Biden’s victory in each Arizona and Pennsylvania.
Provided that report, Aguilar recommended Johnson’s stipulation a couple of “free, fair and safe” election is setting the stage for one more problem if Trump loses.
“He was the chief architect of the House Republican legal strategy to turn back a free and fair election. So the metric that he’s using is a little curious,” mentioned Aguilar, who was part of the choose committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.
“And so I think that gives us all a bit of heartburn.”
Johnson’s workplace declined to touch upon Aguilar’s warning, pointing to the Speaker’s remarks earlier within the day.
Heading into November’s contest, Trump is already elevating questions on election safety, and Johnson has backed a number of pushes from the previous president casting doubt about integrity on the polls.
Final week, the Speaker introduced a vote on a invoice to couple authorities funding with a invoice to require proof of citizenship to register to vote — a measure pushed closely by Trump. Noncitizen voting is already unlawful and is uncommon.
On Monday, Johnson shared a Fact Social put up from Trump alleging that Democrats “are getting ready to CHEAT” by aiming to get Individuals who reside abroad to forged ballots.
And since changing into Speaker, Johnson has defended his assist for Texas’s problem of the 2020 outcomes.
“The plain language of the Constitution has never changed,” Johnson mentioned in an interview with “Face the Nation” final 12 months after profitable the gavel. “And what happened in many states by changing the election laws without ratification by the state legislatures is a violation of the Constitution. That’s a — that’s a plain fact that no one can dispute.”
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), the vice chair of the Home Democratic Caucus, mentioned these Republicans making claims of “stolen” elections ought to both present some onerous proof or stop elevating doubts in regards to the nation’s election outcomes.
“Standing here today, Republicans still cannot explain who purportedly stole the election, nor how it was done. Because the election wasn’t stolen,” Lieu mentioned.
“I’m confident that our election officials across America are doing their public service,” he added. “They’re going to run elections in a fair and impartial manner.”
Emily Brooks contributed
