A group of 106 Republican House members, more than half of the GOP caucus in the chamber, signed an amicus brief filed Thursday in support of a lawsuit backed by President Trump that seeks to overturn the election.
The brief is led by Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), who, in an email obtained by Forbes, told his colleagues Trump personally asked him to recruit supporters for the lawsuit, which aims to invalidate electors in four states Joe Biden won: Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
The lawsuit was brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and is supported by Republican attorney generals in 17 other states – 6 of whom are trying to directly intervene and 10 of whom met with Trump for a private lunch at the White House on Thursday.
The suit claims the states’ electors should be invalidated because expanded mail-in voting due to the Covid-19 outbreak resulted in widespread fraud and irregularities – an allegation that has already dismissed by courts numerous times.
Just a handful of Republican House members have gone on the record opposing the lawsuit, with retiring Rep. Paul Mitchell (R-Mich.) calling it a “loyalty test” and outgoing Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-Va.) telling Forbes, “I really respect some of these people but this stuff is preposterous … that list is being built on disinformation.”
The brief argues a sizable portion of the American public has “serious doubts” about the integrity of the election and says it’s the “solemn duty” of the Court to determine whether the election was secure – though those doubts, primarily among Trump supporters, were likely sown by a deluge of unfounded fraud claims made by the president.
A handful of prominent Republicans, including former Sens. John Danforth (R-Mo.) and Lowell Weicker (R-Conn.) and former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, filed their own brief opposing the case, as did 23 other states and territories, while Ohio’s Republican attorney general filed a brief arguing federal courts “lack authority to order legislatures to appoint electors without regard to the results.”
Trump has sought to overcome his loss by any means necessary. His campaign and allie… (Read more)
In case you harbored any question @jaketapper I will not be signing on to this amicus brief. Apparently I have failed the Trump won “loyalty tests” thoroughly. https://t.co/HCdKOqk3sp
— Rep. Paul Mitchell (@RepPaulMitchell) December 9, 2020
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