Rep. Jim Jordan, one of President Trump’s staunchest defenders in the House, said in remarks published Monday that doesn’t think Trump should concede the 2020 election after the Electoral College certifies President-elect Joe Biden’s victory next week.
“No. No way, no way, no way,” the Ohio Republican told CNN, adding: ”We should still try to figure out exactly what took place here. And as I said that includes, I think, debates on the House floor — potentially on Jan. 6.”
The president has continued to reject the results in the weeks since Election Day, while his campaign and supporters mount thus far fruitless legal challenges in a number of states where he lost, including Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin, making unsubstantiated allegations of fraud.
“I know we have members who feel that way, feel very strongly about we should be debating what took place in Pennsylvania,” Jordan said. “But, you know, you had all kinds of crazy things happening in Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, all these in Nevada. … So everything you look at doesn’t make sense.”
Earlier on Monday, a legal challenge brought by Republicans in Michigan seeking to decertify the state’s election results, which show Biden winning by more than 150,000 votes, was shot down by a federal judge. The defeat adds to a growing heap of rejected lawsuits by the president’s team and his allies aimed at invalidating votes or decertifying totals in multiple states.
A growing number of Republicans in Congress have come to publicly acknowledge Biden’s victory in the past few weeks. However, others still feel the House should take up floor debates on the matter.
“There are members who believe there could be value in having substantive debate of what occurred in states with substantial irregularities,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who is also an ardent Trump supporter, told CNN.
“I don’t believe that 10 hours of debate on that subject would impair the union,” he added.