Scalise to ABC’s Karl: ‘Are We Going to Finally Get Back to What the Constitution Calls Out for Electing Our Leaders?’

During an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) was asked if he acknowledged President Joe Biden as the “legitimate president of the United States.”

While affirming that Biden was, Scalise argued the acknowledgment did not negate questions about the 2020 election and how the will of state legislatures was ignored.

Partial transcript as follows:

KARL: Let’s also be clear, the president, then-president Donald Trump did not denounce what happened on January 6 on January 6.

But clear this up for me. Joe Biden won the election. He is the legitimate president of the United States. The election was not stolen, correct?

SCALISE: Look, Joe Biden’s the president. There were a few states that did not follow their state laws. That’s really the dispute that you’ve seen continue on.

And, look, if you’re Joe Biden, you probably want to keep talking about impeachment and anything other than the fact that he’s killed millions of American energy jobs, that he continues to — they just signed the Paris Accord. It’s going to kill manufacturing jobs in America.

But at the end of the day, when you look at where we are in this country, either we’re going to address the problems that happened with the election that people are still — millions of people are still concerned about — the Constitution says state legislatures set the rules for elections. That didn’t happen in a few states. And so, going forward — look, Joe Biden’s the president. But does he…

(CROSSTALK)

KARL: I mean…

SCALISE: … towards what people are angry about?

KARL: But — but, Congressman, I know Joe Biden’s the president. He lives at the White House. I asked you, is he the legitimate president of the United States, and do you concede that this election was not stolen?

Very simple question. Please just answer it.

SCALISE: Look, once — once the — once the electors are counted, yes, he’s the legitimate president. But if you’re going to ignore the fact that there were states that did not follow their own state legislatively set laws, that’s the issue at heart, that millions of people still are not happy with and don’t want to see happen again.

You know, look, we — you can rehash the election from 2020 all day long, but there are people concerned about what the next election is going to look like. Are we going to finally get back to the way the rule of law works?

And I think that’s the biggest frustration many people have, is those states that didn’t follow the law, are they going to keep doing that in the future, or are we going to finally get back to what the Constitution calls out for electing our leaders?

KARL: All right. Congressman Steve Scalise, thank you for joining us on this “This Week.” Appreciate it.

Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor