Twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Twitter Monday that President Trump is attempting to “distract people from the fact that he lost,” adding that he does not care about the “costs,” which include “our very democracy.”
“What we’re seeing right now is a president with nothing left to lose and only one goal—to distract people from the fact that he lost,” the former Trump challenger said to her 30 million Twitter followers Monday.
“He doesn’t care that the costs are America’s health, security, and our very democracy,” she added:
Clinton’s remarks follow Trump’s expression of approval of Republican lawmakers’ plans to object to the results of the Electoral College in disputed states, as a dozen senators and an estimated 140 House Republicans are expected to do so on January 6. The president took direct aim at Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) because the Arkansas senator revealed he would not join his GOP colleagues, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Ron Johnson (R-WI), James Lankford (R-OK), Steve Daines (R-MT), John Kennedy (R-LA), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mike Braun (R-IN), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) in objecting to electors in disputed states in the absence of a ten-day audit. Last week, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) was the first senator to announce his intention to object to Electoral College votes.
“How can you certify an election when the numbers being certified are verifiably WRONG. You will see the real numbers tonight during my speech, but especially on JANUARY 6th,” Trump exclaimed.
“@SenTomCotton Republicans have pluses & minuses, but one thing is sure, THEY NEVER FORGET!” he warned:
Cotton, however, asserted that the action would establish “unwise precedents” that Democrats would take advantage of in the future. In a statement this weekend, the GOP lawmaker said he shares concerns about election irregularities, particularly in states that “rushed through election-law changes to relax standards for voting-by-mail,” and called for a commission to study the last election.
He continued:
Nevertheless, the Founders entrusted our elections chiefly to the states — not Congress. They entrusted the election of our president to the people, acting through the Electoral College — not Congress,” Cotton said. “And they entrusted the adjudication of election disputes to the courts — not Congress. Under the Constitution and federal law, Congress’s power is limited to counting electoral votes submitted by the states.
…
If Congress purported to overturn the results of the Electoral College, it would not only exceed that power but also establish unwise precedents,” Cotton said. “First, Congress would take away the power to choose the president from the people, which would essentially end presidential elections and place that power in the hands of whichever party controls Congress. Second, Congress would imperil the Electoral College, which gives small states like Arkansas a voice in presidential elections. Democrats could achieve their longstanding goal of eliminating the Electoral College in effect by refusing to count electoral votes in the future for a Republican president-elect. Third, Congress would take another big step toward federalizing election law, another long-standing Democratic priority that Republicans have consistently opposed.
“Thus, I will not oppose the counting of certified electoral votes on January 6,” Cotton said, stressing that he is “grateful” for the accomplishments President Trump made in his first term but contending that “objecting to certified electoral votes won’t give him a second term — it will only embolden those Democrats who want to erode further our system of constitutional government.”