Republican senator vows to challenge Joe Biden win in congress

A newly elected senator may support a last-ditch attempt to overturn the US election result next month, a move that could split the Republican party.

A move by a newly elected Republican senator to overturn Joe Biden’s victory would have no chance of because the Democrats have a majority in the House of Representatives. Picture: AFP

A newly elected Republican senator has suggested he may throw his support behind a last-ditch attempt to overturn the election result next month.

Tommy Tuberville, who will take up his seat from Alabama on January 3, could formally propose President Donald Trump as the election winner at a joint session of congress on January 6 to certify the outcome of the vote. Such a move would threaten to split the Republican party.

Mo Brooks, a member of the House of Representatives who also represents Alabama, has already said that he plans to object to the results from certain swing states at the formal session, which will be presided over by Vice President Mike Pence. If at least one congressman and one senator object to a state’s result then the two chambers must spend up to two hours debating the challenge and vote on whether or not to uphold the results submitted by the electoral college.

“You see what’s coming,” Mr Tuberville said in Georgia, in footage which surfaced late last week.

“You’ve been reading about it in the house. We’re going to have to do it in the Senate.”

The video emerged days after Stan McDonald, who ran Mr Tuberville’s election campaign, told a radio station in Alabama: “I don’t know yet if or when he will do this. He’s very seriously considering it.”

Such a move would have no chance of overturning Joe Biden’s victory because the Democrats have a majority in the House of Representatives. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, who last week finally acknowledged that Mr Biden had won November’s election, has urged his caucus not to participate in the challenge, fearing it will expose divisions over how far to support Mr Trump’s claims that the election was “rigged”.

The President, who has been pushing for a senator to join the revolt, praised Mr Tuberville as a “great champion and man of courage” and called for more Republican senators to follow his lead. Mr Trump also tweeted a story about a 36-page report published by Peter Navarro, his trade adviser, which claims there were multiple voting irregularities that were “more than sufficient” to change the outcome of the election.

Mr Tuberville, 66, is a retired American football coach and pundit who has never held political office. He was endorsed by Mr Trump during his Republican primary campaign.

The Pentagon has abruptly halted its co-operation with the Biden transition team. On Thursday Chris Miller, installed by the president as acting Defence Secretary, ordered a pause to meetings, the Axios website reported.

There is said to have been anger about a report in The Washington Post which disclosed a Pentagon analysis stating that $US2.6bn ($3.4bn) would be saved if construction of Mr Trump’s border wall with Mexico were abandoned. Mr Trump’s officials reportedly blame Mr Biden’s team for the leak. The defence department claimed that they had agreed a “simple delay” with the Biden team because officials were so busy.

The Times