ABC’s Stephanopoulos to GOP senator on presidential race: ‘Why can’t you accept the results?’

ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos pressed Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) on Sunday about why he and many of his Republican colleagues have not publicly accepted the results of the 2020 presidential race. 

“As I said, Joe Biden’s victory has now been certified in states totaling 279 electoral votes. So do you now accept that he’s president-elect?” Stephanopoulos asked Braun on ABC’s This Week. 

Braun replied, “So whether we dismiss it reflexively, whether we would find widespread fraud, there’s a wide gulf in between. And I think that when you just say that there’s nothing there, you’re going to have half of the country uncertain about what just happened and disgruntled going into the future.” 

Stephanopoulos told Braun that audits and recounts in several states have found no evidence of widespread voter fraud. Election results have been certified in states led by Republican governors, such as Arizona and Georgia, he said. 

“So the process has played out, hasn’t it? And there’s no evidence of widespread fraud. Why can’t you accept the results?” he pressed. 

“I think it’s easy to say it’s played out because that might be the most convenient thing to say, but let’s look at what the secretary of state did not mention in Georgia,” Braun said. “The video where, after a counting place closed, you see boxes of ballots coming out from underneath the table. … I know that’s kind of a graphic example, but —” 

The anchor interjected, saying, “There wasn’t anything wrong shown in that video at all. So you’re just throwing out a claim out there.” 

“All I can tell you is if you don’t at least give a perfunctory kind of investigation into it, whether it’s Dec. 14 and what happens beyond, you’re going to have a good part of the country — it’s over 50 percent — that view that something is amiss,” Braun said. “And that’s going to carry forward in terms of undermining a democracy.” 

.@GStephanopoulos to GOP Sen. Mike Braun: There have been 38 lawsuits by President Trump and his allies that “have been dismissed by judges…the attorney general came back and said there’s no evidence of widespread fraud…why can’t you accept the results?” https://t.co/UjoxQv2yAb pic.twitter.com/QzklD5z5Y9

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) December 6, 2020

President Trump has declined to concede to Biden and as recently as a Saturday rally in Georgia has continued to insist he won.

The president’s rhetoric following his election loss has applied pressure to Congressional Republicans as they seek to retain their slim Senate majority during the Jan. 5 Georgia runoff elections.