Nov. 5,
2020, 9:56 p.m. ET32 minutes ago
32 minutes
ago
By Michael
Crowley
Republican officials distance themselves from
Trump’s claims of election fraud.
President
Trump’s false claims of voter fraud drew little support from Republican
officials on Thursday, with several either rebuking the president or offering
statements that stopped far short of endorsing his views.
“Counting
every vote is at the heart of democracy,” Senator Mitt Romney of Utah wrote on
Twitter, implicitly rejecting Mr. Trump’s extraordinary call for halting vote counts
in states where he leads. “Have faith in democracy, in our Constitution, and in
the American people,” he said.
“All votes
that comply with Pennsylvania law must be counted, regardless of how long the
process takes,” Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania said in a statement. Though
expressing concern that Philadelphia’s vote counting “lacks transparency,” Mr.
Toomey concluded that “all parties involved must accept the outcome of the
election regardless of whether they won or lost.”
“There is
no defense for the President’s comments tonight undermining our Democratic
process,” tweeted Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a frequent Trump critic. “No
election or person is more important than our Democracy.”
Shortly
after Mr. Trump’s remarks at the White House, Vice President Mike Pence issued
a statement of support, but one that did not echo the president’s talk of
conspiracy and fraud. “I Stand With President @realDonaldTrump. We must count
every LEGAL vote,” Mr. Pence tweeted, echoing none of the president’s charges
of fraud and conspiracy.
Multiple
Republicans indirectly suggested that Mr. Trump had presented no actual
evidence of wrongdoing.
“If a
candidate believes a state is violating election laws they have a right to
challenge it in court & produce evidence in support of their claims,”
tweeted Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. He also reposted a tweet from Wednesday
in which he said: “Taking days to count legally cast votes is NOT fraud. And
court challenges to votes cast after the legal voting deadline is NOT suppression.”
Without
naming Mr. Trump, Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois tweeted that “if
you have legit concerns about fraud present EVIDENCE and take it to court. STOP
Spreading debunked misinformation.”
“This is
getting insane,” he added.
Mr. Trump’s
former campaign manager, Brad Parscale, tweeted what seemed to be partly a plea
and partly a threat:
“If you
want to win in 2024 as a Republican. I would probably start saying something.
Just saying,” he wrote. But on Thursday night, there was little sign of that
happening.
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