Trump warns Cotton after senator says he won’t object to Biden certification

President Trump on Monday targeted Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) a day after the senator said he would not join an effort to object to the certification of Electoral College votes affirming Joe Biden as the next president.

“How can you certify an election when the numbers being certified are verifiably WRONG,” Trump tweeted, suggesting he would falsely claim during his rally in Georgia on Monday night that he was a true winner of the election despite multiple audits and court cases confirming Biden had won and that Trump claims lacked standing.

“@SenTomCotton Republicans have pluses & minuses, but one thing is sure, THEY NEVER FORGET!” Trump added.

How can you certify an election when the numbers being certified are verifiably WRONG. You will see the real numbers tonight during my speech, but especially on JANUARY 6th. @SenTomCotton Republicans have pluses & minuses, but one thing is sure, THEY NEVER FORGET!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2021

Cotton, who is widely considered a potential GOP presidential candidate for 2024, broke with roughly a dozen other Senate Republicans who have said they will object to the electoral results in certain states when Congress certifies the votes on Wednesday.

Cotton warned that an effort spearheaded by Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), two other potential 2024 White House hopefuls, to challenge the electoral votes of several swing states that went for President-elect Joe Biden could “establish unwise precedents.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), another staunch Trump ally, also balked at the effort led by Cruz and Hawley, calling it a “political dodge.”

A handful of other Republicans have also criticized the plan to object to the results, saying it undermines the result of the election and gives Congress undue influence. But those GOP senators, including Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), have largely been frequent Trump critics.

A few other senators have expressed concern over audio of Trump’s call to the Georgia secretary of state, where the president pressured him to “find” votes that would tip the state in Trump’s favor.

Trump swiped at his critics within the GOP more broadly in a subsequent tweet on Monday morning, dubbing the group the “Surrender Caucus.”

The ‘Surrender Caucus’ within the Republican Party will go down in infamy as weak and ineffective ‘guardians’ of our Nation, who were willing to accept the certification of fraudulent presidential numbers!” Trump tweeted.