WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate overwhelmingly turned aside a challenge to President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in Arizona, guaranteeing the result will stand.
The objection to the results in Arizona -- spearheaded by Rep. Paul Gosar and Sen. Ted Cruz -- was rejected 93-6 on Wednesday night. All votes in favor came from Republicans, but after violent protesters mobbed the Capitol earlier Wednesday a number of GOP senators who had planned to support the objection reversed course.
The Senate resumed debating the Republican challenge against Biden’s presidential election victory at 8 p.m., more than six hours after pro-Trump mobs attacked the Capitol and forced lawmakers to flee.
The Republicans raised the objection based on false claims pushed by President Donald Trump and others of issues with the vote in Arizona, which were repeatedly dismissed in Arizona’s courts and by the state’s election officials.
The mayhem had forced the House and Senate to abruptly end the day’s debates and flee to safety under the protection of police. And it prompted bipartisan outrage as many lawmakers blamed Trump for fostering the violence.
Trump has falsely insisted that the election was marred by fraud and that he actually won. He reiterated those claims in remarks to thousands of protesters outside the White House early Wednesday and goaded them to march to the Capitol, which many of them did.
On the Senate floor, Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Trump “bears a great deal of the blame” for the violent mob. adding that Jan. 6, 2021, will “live forever in infamy” and will be a stain on the democracy.
He added, "The president, who promoted conspiracy theories that motivated these thugs, the president, who exhorted them to come to our nation’s capital, egged them on."
And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Congress would "not be deterred” in confirming the results of the presidential election because of the violence.
McConnell says demonstrators “tried to disrupt our democracy. They failed.”
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