Link to Part I: https://paraleaglenm.com/2024/01/13/january-6-2021-house-objections-to-bidens-electors/

How many of you have read the entire Congressional Record for January 6th? The purpose of this blog is to extract essential speeches made that day. It is clear from this record that the planned attack on the Capitol had a detrimental effect on the debates and votes in support of Title 3 §15 Objections, lawfully filed by Trump supporters.

In effect, the attack on the Capitol was a success . . . and it was planned by Democrats.

https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/volume-167/issue-4/senate-section/article/S14-5

There were very few HEROES in the Senate except Sen. Josh Hawley, Marshall, Lankford, and Ted Cruz. That was it.

Everyone else lambasted President Trump or kicked the can down the road, ignoring the 1877 statute.

There is not much to report here. The senate conformed to the rhetoric that all recounts were perfect and the many lawsuits resulted in wise judges rejecting claims of ‘irregularities.’ However, experts point out that the recounts were merely a rehash of the invalid machine results and not an examination of mail ballot and harvesting issues. In counterpoint, it was also made clear that every lawsuit was ‘withdrawn or dismissed’ without consideration of the evidence. As a group, 100 senators, the 1877 statute giving congress the power to examine ‘irregularities’ in the way electors were certified was swept aside, arguing that the counting of electors was ceremonial only.

The Republic fell to a Democracy.

Update February 2, 2024: The Georgia Election Fraud case overseen by Judge Totenberg is proceeding. Even this Obama-appointed judge concedes that concerns over ballot fraud are substantive, and the Democrats and entrenched election agencies are worried about revelations proving ‘The Steal,’ and potential violence. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbY5JxYNP4o

Here is, best to my understanding, why speeches in the Senate were so limited:

The VICE PRESIDENT. Pursuant to S. Con. Res. 1 and section 17, title III, U.S. Code, when the two Houses withdraw from the joint session to count the electoral vote for separate consideration of an objection, a Senator may speak to the objection for 5 minutes and not more than once. Debate shall not exceed 2 hours, after which the Chair will put the question: Shall the objection be sustained?

  The clerk will report the objection made in the joint session.

  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       Objection from Senator Hawley from Missouri and 
     Representative Perry from Pennsylvania, ``We, a U.S. Senator and Member of the House of Representatives, object to the counting of the electoral votes of the State of Pennsylvania on the ground that they were not, under all of the known circumstances, regularly given.''

Hero – President Trump

  REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE SENATE

   The PRESIDING OFFICER laid before the Senate the following letter from the Secretary of the Senate, which was ordered to lie on the table:

 Dear Mr. President: On Tuesday, January 5, 2021, the 

     President of the United States sent by messenger the attached sealed envelope addressed to the President of the Senate dated January 5, 2021, said to contain a message regarding additional steps addressing the threat posed by applications and other software developed or controlled by Chinese companies. The Senate not being in session on the day which the President delivered this message, I accepted the message at 5:00 p.m., and I now present to you the President's 
message, with the accompanying papers, for disposition by the 
Senate.

        Respectfully,                                                   Julie A. Adams,                                   Secretary of the Senate.

Hero – Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX)

Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, we gather together at a moment of great
division, at a moment of great passion. We have seen and, no doubt, will continue to see a great deal of moralizing from both sides of the aisle, but I would urge to both sides perhaps a bit less certitude and a bit more recognition that we are gathered at a time when democracy is in crisis.

  Recent polling shows that 39 percent of Americans believe the 
election that just occurred ``was rigged.'' You may not agree with that assessment, but it is, nonetheless, a reality for nearly half the country.

  I would note it is not just Republicans who believe that. Thirty-one percent of Independents agree with that statement. Seventeen percent of Democrats believe the election was rigged. Even if you do not share that conviction, it is the responsibility, I believe, of this office to acknowledge that is a profound threat to this country and to the legitimacy of any administrations that will come in the future.

  I want to take a moment to speak to my Democratic colleagues. I understand. Your guy is winning right now. If Democrats vote as a bloc, Joe Biden will almost certainly be certified as the next President of the United States.

  I want to speak to the Republicans who are considering voting against these objections. I understand your concerns, but I urge you to pause and think: What does it say to the nearly half the country that believes this election was rigged if we vote not even to consider the claims of illegality and fraud in this election?

  And I believe there is a better way. The leaders just spoke about setting aside the election. Let me be clear. I am not arguing for setting aside the result of this election. All of us are faced with two choices, both of which are lousy. One choice is vote against the objection, and tens of millions of Americans will see a vote against the objection as a statement that voter fraud doesn't matter, isn't real, and shouldn't be taken seriously. And a great many of us don't believe that.

  On the other hand, most, if not all, of us believe we should not set aside the results of an election just because our candidate may not have prevailed. So I endeavored to look for door No. 3, a third option, and for that I looked to history, to the precedent of the 1876 election, the Hayes-Tilden election, where this Congress appointed an electoral commission to examine claims of voter fraud.

  Five House Members, five Senators, five Supreme Court Justices 
examined the evidence and rendered a judgment. What I would urge of this body is that we do the same; that we appoint an electoral commission to conduct a 10-day emergency audit, consider the evidence, and resolve the claims.

  For those in the Democratic aisle who say there is no evidence, they have been rejected, then you should rest in comfort. If that is the case, an electoral commission would reject those claims.

  But for those who respect the voters, simply telling the voters, ``Go jump in a lake; the fact that you have deep concerns is of no moment to us,'' that jeopardizes, I believe, the legitimacy of this and subsequent elections.

  The Constitution gives to Congress the responsibility this day to count the votes. The Framers knew what they were doing when they gave responsibilities to Congress. We have a responsibility, and I would urge that we follow the precedent of 1877. The Electoral Count Act explicitly allows objections such as this one for votes that were not regularly given.

  Let me be clear. This objection is for the State of Arizona, but it is broader than that. It is an objection for all six of the contested States to have a credible, objective, impartial body hear the evidence and make a conclusive determination. That would benefit both sides. 

That would improve the legitimacy of this election.

  So let me urge my colleagues: All of us take our responsibility seriously. I would urge my colleagues: Don't take, perhaps, the easy path, but, instead, act together. Astonish the viewers and act in a bipartisan sense to say we will have a credible and fair tribunal, consider the claims, consider the facts, consider the evidence, and make a conclusive determination whether and to what extent this election complied with the Constitution and with Federal law.

Hero - Senator Lankford (R-OK)

UPDATE February 5, 2024--Sen. Lankford sponsored a fatally-flawed bill opening the border to nearly 2 million 'Democrat Voters.' Please write the senator to protest.

Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, in America, we settle our differences in elections. What happens if you don't trust the election count or you are concerned that so many courts denied or dismissed cases within hours after they were given thousands of pages of evidence?

  The reason we have a Congress to settle our Nation's divisions and the rules of the Senate make sure that every opinion in the Nation is heard is so issues like this can be addressed.

  The constitutional crisis in our country right now is that millions of Americans are being told to sit down and shut up. Their opinions matter.

  During the electoral challenge on January 6, 2005, Senator Ted 
Kennedy stood on this floor and said this. He said: 

       I commend the many thousands of citizens in Massachusetts 
and other States who insisted that treating today's electoral vote count in Congress as a meaningless ritual would be an insult to our democracy unless we register our own protest against the obviously-flawed voting process that took place in so many States. We are hopeful that this major issue that goes to the heart of our democracy is now firmly implanted on the agenda for effective action by . . . Congress.

   I agree. The U.S. Constitution does not allow me to assign different electors to a State, nor should it. The U.S. Constitution does not give the option to the Vice President of the United States to just unilaterally decide which States are in and out, and it should not. 

Each State decides its electors through its people.

  A small group of Senators, including myself, have demanded that we not ignore the questions that millions of people are asking in our Nation, so we have proposed a constitutional solution. Pause the count. Get more facts to the States before January the 20th. We proposed a 15-member commission, just like what was done after the failed election of 1876. We are encouraging people to spend 10 days going through all the 
issues so States can have one

 [Page S18]]

last opportunity to address any challenges. Then the States, as the Constitution directs, would make the final decision on their electors.

  I have some colleagues who have said that a 10-day commission is not enough time, so they have counter proposed just ignoring the lingering questions.

We need to do something.

Hero – Senator Marshall (R-KS)

  Mr. MARSHALL. Thank you, Mr. President.

  Freedom of speech and the freedom to protest are provided in our 

Constitution. While I share the same frustration many Americans have 

over the Presidential election, the violence and mob rule that occurred 

at the U.S. Capitol today and across the country over the past year are 

unacceptable, and I condemn them at the highest level. Like all of us 

in the Chamber, I am thankful for the heroic law enforcement officers 

who worked feverishly to restore order so that we get back to the 

electoral certification process.

  During my 29-year career as an obstetrician and gynecologist, too 

often I had to sit down with patients and give them a very bad 

diagnosis. It might have been a young mother of three whose three 

babies I delivered, now with metastatic breast cancer, or perhaps 

another woman with advanced cervical or ovarian cancer, all of which 

have very challenging prognoses. But before I sat down with each one of 

those patients, I carefully reviewed all the labs, their x rays, and 

the pathology to make sure I had the facts straight, but at the end of 

the day, my final recommendation was always going to be a 

recommendation from my heart.

  I want my fellow Kansans and all Americans to know that I have given 

as much consideration and thought surrounding the issue of objecting to 

a State's electoral college votes as I did considering the treatment 

plan for a serious health concern, and today's decision once again is 

from my heart.

  Mr. President, I rise today to restore integrity to our Republic, and 

I rise to do it knowing that many of our colleagues are all concerned 

for current and future generations. We must restore faith and 

confidence in one of our Republic's most hallowed and patriotic duties: 

voting.

  There is no question our U.S. Constitution empowers State 

legislatures to execute free, legal, and fair elections. Unfortunately, 

in several States, the clear authority of those State legislatures to 

determine the rules for voting was usurped by Governors, secretaries of 

state, and activist courts. Our laws and Constitution should always be 

followed, especially in a time of crisis.

  I don't rise to undo a State's legally obtained electoral college 

votes; rather, I rise in hopes of improving the integrity of the ballot 

to hold States accountable to the time-proven constitutional system of 

the electoral college.

  This is why I urge the formation of an electoral commission to give 

constructive suggestions and recommendations that States can take to 

make our elections once again safe, free, and fair after a year of 

jarring irregularities.

  We must and will have a peaceful transition of power.

  To all my fellow Americans, I have no doubt that our Republic can 

grow stronger through this difficult day.

  May God bless this great Republic.

  Thank you, Mr. President.

Hero  – Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO)

I say to Pennsylvania, quite apart from allegations of any fraud, you 

have a State constitution that has been interpreted for over a century 

to say that there is no mail-in balloting permitted except for in very 

narrow circumstances, which is also provided for in the law. Yet, last 

year, Pennsylvania's elected officials passed a whole new law that 

allowed for universal mail-in balloting, and they did it, irregardless 

of what the Pennsylvania Constitution said.

  Then, when Pennsylvania's citizens tried to be heard on this subject 

before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, they were dismissed on grounds 

of procedure and timeliness, in violation of that supreme court's own 

precedent.

  So the merits of the case have never been heard. The 

constitutionality of the statute, actually, has never been defended. I 

am not aware of any court that has passed on its constitutionality. I 

actually am not aware of anybody who has defended the 

constitutionality, and this was the statute that governed this last 

election in which there were over 2.5 million mail-in ballots in 

Pennsylvania.

  This is my point, that this is the forum. The Pennsylvania Supreme 

Court hasn't heard the case, and there is no other court to go to, to 

hear the case in the State, so this is the appropriate place for these 

concerns to be raised, which is why I have raised them here today.

  I hope that this body will not miss the opportunity to take 

affirmative action to address the concerns of so many millions of 

Americans--to say to millions of Americans tonight that violence is 

never warranted, that violence will not be tolerated, that those who 

engage in it will be prosecuted, but that this body will act to address 

the concerns of all Americans across the country.

  We do need an investigation into irregularities, fraud. We do need a 

way forward together. We need election security reforms. I bet my 

friends on the other side of the aisle don't disagree with that. We 

need to find a way to move forward on that together so that the 

American people from both parties and all walks of life can have 

confidence in their elections and so that we can arrange ourselves 

under the rule of law that we share together.

Anti-Hero  Senator – Bennet (D-CO)

By the way, the fact that 37 percent or 39 percent of Americans think 

there is evidence of fraud does not mean there is fraud. If you have 

turned a blind eye to a conspiracy theory, you can't now come to the 

floor of the Senate and say you are ignoring the people who believe 

that the election was stolen. Go out there and tell them the truth, 

which is that every single Member of this Senate knows this election

[[Page S21]]

wasn't stolen and that we, just as in the Roman Republic, have a 

responsibility to protect the independence of the judiciary from 

politicians who will stop at nothing to hold on to power. There is 

nothing new about that either. That has been true since the first 

republic was founded.

Anti-Hero Senator Loeffler (R-GA), who Ironically lost the 2021 Georgia Senate Runoff, just a couple of weeks later, due to the same Fulton County ‘sandbagging’ of harvested mail ballots reported for the 2020 election.

[Note that this is another example of how the ‘insurrection,’ the FBI-Antifa riot that was blamed on President Trump, changed the vote of a Republican Senator!]

Mrs. LOEFFLER. Mr. President, when I arrived in Washington this 

morning, I fully intended to object to the certification of the 

electoral votes. However, the events that have transpired today have 

forced me to reconsider, and I cannot now, in good conscience, object 

to the certification of these electors.

  The violence, the lawlessness, and siege of the Halls of Congress are 

abhorrent and stand as a direct attack on the very institution my 

objection was intended to protect: the sanctity of the American 

democratic process. And I thank law enforcement for keeping us safe.

  I believe that there were last-minute changes to the November 2020 

election process and serious irregularities that resulted in too many 

Americans losing confidence not only in the integrity of our elections 

but in the power of the ballot as a tool of democracy. Too many 

Americans are frustrated at what they see as an unfair system. 

Nevertheless, there is no excuse for the events that took place in 

these Chambers today, and I pray that America never suffers such a dark 

day again.

Anti-Hero

Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

Yet a number of our colleagues have organized an effort to undermine and object to that free and fair election. They are in the minority. They will lose; they know that. 

They have no evidence of widespread voter fraud upon which to base 

their objections. That is because there is none. There is none, not 

brought before any of the courts successfully.

  They know that President Trump and his allies have suffered a defeat 

in court after court across the country, losing no fewer than 62 legal 

challenges. And, I might add, many Republican-appointed judges--some 

appointed by President Trump--rendered those decisions.

  They know--you all know--that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are going 

to be sworn in as President and Vice President of the United States on 

January 20, but they are going to object to the counting of the vote 

anyway, and in the process, they will embarrass themselves, they will 

embarrass their party, and worst of all, they will embarrass their 

country.

  This insurrection was fortunately discouraged by the leadership of 

the majority party, but it was not quelled.

[Sen. Shumer demands arrest and prosecution of the protestors without discriminating between those who actually rioted, and that ‘they should be provide no mercy.’ ]

Mr. SCHUMER.  I want to be very clear. Those who performed these reprehensible acts cannot be called protestors. No, these were rioters and insurrectionists, goons and thugs, domestic terrorists. They do not represent America. These were a few thousand violent extremists who tried to take over the Capitol Building and attack our democracy. They must and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, hopefully, by this administration; if not, certainly by the next. They should be provided no leniency.

[Yes, like suspected FBI informant and CI Ray Epps, right?]

Anti-Hero and Conspiracy Theorist- Senator Van Hollen from Maryland

Mr. President, Donald Trump could not do this alone. He could only do

it if he is aided and abetted by individuals

[[Page S28]]

who are willing to perpetrate those lies and those conspiracies, and

that is why it is so important that we as Democrats and Republicans and

Senators stand up together–stand up together and tell the truth. You

know when you go into a court of law, like those 60 cases, you are

testifying under penalty of perjury. That is very different than here

in the House and the Senate, and in all those 60 cases, under penalty

of perjury, there was no evidence of widespread fraud. So it should be

easy for us all together to tell the truth.

  On January 20, Joe Biden will be sworn in as the next President of

the United States.

Anti-Hero

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President. January 6, 2021, will forever mark a 

historic day for our Nation. Not simply because our beloved Capitol 

building--the very heart of our democracy--laid under siege. Not simply 

because rioters stormed the Senate and House floors, assaulting Capitol 

Police officers and leaving a wake of destruction along the way. Not 

simply because the President of the United States encouraged his 

supporters to commit these felonies--to march to the Capitol and ``to 

fight,'' in his words. No, today will also be remembered because of 

what happened before all of that. Today, over 100 Members of the House 

and a dozen Senators supported a ploy to deprive the States and the 

American people of their constitutional role to choose our next 

President--a ploy that amounts to nothing less than an assault on our 

Constitutional republic.

  The President's obscene claim that the election was stolen from him, 

which he continued to spout even while his rioting supporters roamed 

the Halls of the Capitol today, has been disproven time and again. 

Every single Senator knows that Vice President Biden won the election 

and did so decisively. Claims that President Trump won reelection are 

not just fantasy; they are delusional. And citing voters' mistrust in 

the election results as grounds for this stunt is particularly 

disingenuous given that those concerns have been fueled by the 

President's own baseless conspiracy theories--not by the evidence, not 

by the facts, and not by State election administrators, both 

Republicans and Democrats, who actually oversaw these elections and 

know what they are talking about.

  President Trump and his allies have now lost more than 60 cases in 

courts across the country, by judges of every political stripe, 

including those appointed by the President. The lopsidedness of these 

decisions has been extraordinary. It has been nothing less than a 

wholesale rejection of the President's claims. But this is not 

surprising. The President's own Attorney General said there is no 

evidence of widespread fraud. His own Department of Homeland Security 

described it as the ``most secure election in American history.''

  President Trump serves no one but himself. He is not a custodian or 

guardian of our democracy. He is a man whose every decision is driven 

by his shallow self-interest. I did not expect him to be gracious in 

defeat. I expected him to throw tantrums . . . Here are just some of the claims Donald Trump and his legal team have 

made and that our colleagues lend credence to today: that Venezuela, 

Cuba, and China rigged our country's voting machines in favor of Joe 

Biden; that dead people voted in this election and they only voted for 

Joe Biden; and that poll watchers and election observers--who risked 

their lives during this pandemic to uphold the integrity of our 

elections--stuffed ballot boxes with Biden votes and shredded Trump 

votes. Not one--let me repeat--not one of these things is true. There 

is no evidence to back up these ridiculous claims.

  Many of these absurd claims from Donald Trump and his legal team are 

nothing more than conspiracy theories circulating online. This 

misinformation and dangerous rhetoric from the President and his 

allies, including calls for violence, have polluted our discourse and 

imperiled our peaceful transition of power.

[Highlighted quotes by compiler due to these allegations being proven to be true, that Dominion/Smartmatic Vote-By-Mail fraud designed in Venezuela for Dictator Chavez, China’s CCP invested millions in Dominion and provided IT support, Georgia’s voter rolls had over 250,000 invalid voter registrations had ballots harvested, Arizona had 17,000 duplicate mail ballot envelopes, that alone enough to flip the election, Republican poll watchers and observers blocked, or forced out of the ballot scanning centers,. . .]

Vote on Objection to Counting of Arizona Electoral Votes

  The VICE PRESIDENT. All time has expired.

  The question is, Shall the objection submitted by the gentleman from 

Arizona, Mr. Gosar, and the Senator from Texas, Mr. Cruz, and others be 

sustained?

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

  The VICE PRESIDENT. Is there a sufficient second?

  There is a sufficient second.

  The clerk will call the roll.

  The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.

  The result was announced--yeas 6, nays 93, as follows:

                       [Rollcall Vote No. 1 Leg.]

                                YEAS--6

     Cruz

     Hawley

     Hyde-Smith

     Kennedy

     Marshall

     Tuberville

                                NAYS--93

     Baldwin

     Barrasso

     Bennet

     Blackburn

     Blumenthal

     Blunt

     Booker

     Boozman

     Braun

     Brown

     Burr

     Cantwell

     Capito

     Cardin

     Carper

     Casey

     Cassidy

     Collins

     Coons

     Cornyn

     Cortez Masto

     Cotton

     Cramer

     Crapo

     Daines

     Duckworth

     Durbin

[[Page S32]]

     Ernst

     Feinstein

     Fischer

     Gillibrand

     Graham

     Grassley

     Hagerty

     Harris

     Hassan

     Heinrich

     Hickenlooper

     Hirono

     Hoeven

     Inhofe

     Johnson

     Kaine

     Kelly

     King

     Klobuchar

     Lankford

     Leahy

     Lee

     Loeffler

     Lujan

     Lummis

     Manchin

     Markey

     McConnell

     Menendez

     Merkley

     Moran

     Murkowski

     Murphy

     Murray

     Paul

     Peters

     Portman

     Reed

     Risch

     Romney

     Rosen

     Rounds

     Rubio

     Sanders

     Sasse

     Schatz

     Schumer

     Scott (FL)

     Scott (SC)

     Shaheen

     Shelby

     Sinema

     Smith

     Stabenow

     Sullivan

     Tester

     Thune

     Tillis

     Toomey

     Van Hollen

     Warner

     Warren

     Whitehouse

     Wicker

     Wyden

     Young

The VICE PRESIDENT. On this vote, the yeas are 6, the nays are 93.

  The objection is not sustained.