Thursday, October 24

Stolen, rigged and illegitimate: Democrats’ lengthy historical past of objecting to election outcomes

Democrats from Hillary Clinton to Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and dozens of congressional lawmakers have a decadeslong historical past of objecting to state and federal election outcomes and have tried to dam each Republican presidential winner since 2000.

No Democrat has been prosecuted for difficult election outcomes. The social gathering additionally rejects any try to attract an equivalence to the actions of former President Donald Trump, regardless that high House Democrats tried to cease him from turning into president by objecting to the certification of his victory in 2016.

Mr. Trump is now dealing with dozens of state and federal expenses associated to his effort to overturn President Biden’s victory within the 2020 election, together with a 41-count indictment in Georgia that additionally targets 18 of his former advisers and aides.



The expenses heart on Mr. Trump’s try to forestall Congress from certifying Mr. Biden’s victory. The proof included within the indictment in Fulton County, Georgia, cites the president’s quite a few tweets contesting the election outcomes in addition to telephone calls to aides, lawmakers and election officers looking for to problem Mr. Biden’s slim win in Georgia and different swing states.

As Mrs. Clinton and different Democrats gloat over the prosecution of Mr. Trump, Republicans say the case is utter hypocrisy and politically motivated.

Mr. Trump is the runaway chief within the Republican presidential main and is probably going on monitor to face off in opposition to President Biden on the November 2024 poll. The two stay neck-and-neck typically election polls.

“This indictment isn’t about President Trump claiming the election was stolen,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene stated on the social media web site X, previously Twitter. “If it was, Stacey Abrams and Hillary Clinton would be in jail.”

Mrs. Clinton claimed for years that former President Trump’s 2016 victory was unfair. The former Democratic presidential nominee gained the favored vote, however she misplaced in crucial swing states, which gave Mr. Trump the electoral benefit and the presidency.

Following her defeat, Mrs. Clinton claimed Mr. Trump gained by colluding with Russian operatives and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The declare was the premise for a much-criticized Justice Department investigation that hobbled Mr. Trump’s presidency and turned up no proof of collusion.

“I believe he knows he’s an illegitimate president,” Mrs. Clinton advised CBS News in September 2019.

Mrs. Clinton continued to argue the election was stolen up till Mr. Trump’s defeat in 2020.

In 2019, Mrs. Clinton stated she warned Democrats operating for president, “You can run the best campaign, you can even become the nominee, and you can have the election stolen from you.”

Three months earlier than the 2020 election, Mrs. Clinton suggested then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden that he “should not concede under any circumstances because I think this is going to drag out.”

Mrs. Clinton laughed heartily on the set of MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show” this week over the information of the Fulton County expenses in opposition to Mr. Trump.

“Yet another set of indictments!” She exclaimed.

Mrs. Clinton and Ms. Maddow didn’t talk about Mrs. Clinton’s previous assertion accusing Mr. Trump of stealing the 2016 election. Instead, they agreed Mr. Trump is responsible of making an attempt to undermine democracy, partly by declaring the 2020 election stolen.

“Justice is being pursued,” Mrs. Clinton stated.

She is amongst dozens of outstanding Democrats who’ve objected to GOP election wins.

In Georgia, Ms. Abrams refused to concede following her slim loss to Republican Brian Kemp in Georgia’s 2018 governor’s race. Ms. Abrams stated the election was “rigged” and “stolen” resulting from voter suppression. She refused to completely admit she misplaced, even in 2021 throughout her second, unsuccessful bid to defeat Mr. Kemp. “He won under the rules of the game at the time, but the game was rigged against the voters of Georgia,” Ms. Abrams stated on CNN in December 2021.

Democrats have gone far past merely claiming election fraud.

Congressional Democrats, principally within the House, have objected to certifying each Republican presidential win since 2000.

Congress is required below the structure to certify the election leads to every state, and Democrats have stood as much as object to Republican wins for greater than twenty years.

When the House voted to certify Mr. Trump’s 2016 victory, practically a dozen Democrats tried to dam it.

Then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, advised reporters on the time that she backed the hassle by her rank-and-file dissenters however knew it lacked sufficient help to thwart Mr. Trump’s win.

“In some cases, members are concerned about voter suppression, in some cases they are concerned about Russian influence on our election. There are a number of concerns,” she stated.

Mrs. Pelosi pumped her fist within the chamber when practically a dozen Democrats stood as much as object to certifying Mr. Trump the winner. Among the objectors was Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who’s now the highest Democrat on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, and Rep. Maxine Waters of California, the highest Democrat on the Financial Services Committee.

Rep. Barbara Lee, California Democrat, was amongst those that stood as much as oppose certifying Mr. Trump’s win.

“I object because people are horrified,” Ms. Lee stated.

Democrats objected to the certification of each of George W. Bush’s presidential wins in 2000 and 2004, claiming election fraud and voter suppression.

Mr. Raskin, who served because the lead supervisor in Mr. Trump’s 2021 impeachment case, stated in a press release that the Georgia indictment “makes it clear states will not allow interstate criminal racketeering enterprises to overthrow democratic elections.”

Legal consultants say there’s no evaluating Mr. Trump’s authorized woes to House Democrats objecting to the certification of Republican presidential winners nor to the handfuls of House Republicans and a few Senators who objected to Mr. Biden’s win in 2020.

Mr. Trump is charged with conspiracy to overturn the election, whereas members of Congress are legally licensed to object to electoral school outcomes.

“Actions on the floor of Congress are protected by the speech or debate clause of the constitution, and Republican objections on the floor under the Electoral Count Act are similar to the 2000, 2004, and 2016 actions,” Notre Dame Law Professor Derek T. Muller stated. “I think it’s why you haven’t seen much focus on what members of Congress did on the floor of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, in these prosecutions.”

Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com