Saturday on Fox News Channel’s “Justice,” Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) explained the reasoning behind participating in the effort to threaten an Electoral College challenge on January 6 along with a handful of other U.S. Senators and congressmen.
Lankford told host Jeanine Pirro it was patterned after the 1876 election, which at the time was facing questions of fraud.
“We’ve asked a very simple question: Can we put together an Electoral Commission that have five senators, five House members, five members of the Supreme Court?” he explained. “This is exactly how it was set up in 1876 when there were three states that had all kinds of fraud issues, and so the Election Commission was set up at that time in 1876, just like this, to be able to study it, look at it and make recommendations. We think it’s a good plan.”
“Obviously, there are millions and millions of Americans that think there are major issues with the election,” Lankford continued. “The best way to be able to do that is get all the facts out and to make sure it’s all out there. So what has happened is, a lot of the courts took on some of these things early on. The states certified it. More facts are still coming out. We think it’s the right way to be able to get out all the facts right now, give it back to the states before the Inauguration Day and allow them to make a decision on that. That’s the best way to resolve unanswered questions.”
The Oklahoma Republican offered a timeline for how it could be completed between now and the January 20 inauguration.
“It would be done before the 20th,” Lankford said. “We want to set 10 days, and we’re calling it a 10-day audit, give subpoena power to this group of 15. This group of 15 is not deciding the election. They’re gathering all the information, and they’re challenging every single thing that’s out there. I mean, everything from Sharpies on ballots in Arizona to suitcases of ballots under tables in Georgia to laws that were changed, to individuals that were dead or that moved and are from out of state that voted. All of those things demand us to be able to take a look at. We have got to take it seriously about this moment because there were so many areas that are out there. Some are rumors. Some are facts. But those are facts we have to be able to resolve and determine, is this election settled? And then what do we do from here on out?”
“So we’re demanding that we have a good, hard, serious, professional look at this, then the states in our system of government, according to the Constitution actually pick the President through the Electoral College,” he added. “So we’re not trying to take that over. We’re doing our constitutional duty in laying this out, giving it back to the state, and say states, if you want to reevaluate what you’re sending and who you’re sending, then you can choose to do that. But the states have to be able to make that decision. The Congress’s sole responsibility is oversight of this process and to be able to make sure it is done correctly. The states are the ones that actually make the decisions.”
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