Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) offered blistering criticism of a press conference held on Thursday by Rudy Giuliani and other lawyers representing the Trump campaign, warning that they “erode public trust.”
“Wild press conferences erode public trust. So no, obviously Rudy and his buddies should not pressure electors to ignore their certification obligations under the statute We are a nation of laws, not tweets,” Sasse said in a statement.
His remarks were in response to a press conference where Giuliani and other lawyers overseeing the president’s legal challenges levied various claims of fraud and made clear that their goal was to overturn the results in several states President-elect Joe Biden is leading or has been projected as the winner.
The efforts are aimed at swaying the vote certification process and pressuring state lawmakers to send pro-Trump electors to the Electoral College.
Sasse, in his statement, urged Nebraskans to pay attention to the legal arguments being made in court instead of press conferences or Trump’s tweets, noting that they are substantively different.
“Based on what I’ve read in their filings, when Trump campaign lawyers have stood before courts under oath, they have repeatedly refused to actually allege grand fraud—because there are legal consequences for lying to judges,” Sasse said.
“President Trump lost Michigan by more than 100,000 votes and the campaign and its allies have lost in or withdrawn all five lawsuits in Michigan for being unable to produce any evidence,” he added.
Sasse, who won reelection and is viewed as a potential 2024 contender, is one of only a handful of Senate Republicans who have congratulated Biden on his victory.
His criticism of Giuliani comes as Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) criticized comments from the same press conference from Sidney Powell, one of the lawyers representing the Trump campaign.
Powell, without providing evidence, stated that “we have no idea how many Republican or Democratic candidates … paid to have the system rigged to work for them.”
Ernst, a member of GOP leadership, called the remarks “offensive” and “absolutely outrageous.”