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    Biden reportedly warned family about business dealings before election: ‘For Christ’s sake, watch yourself’

    President Biden, before the presidential election, reportedly told his family to “watch yourself” about their business dealings, Politico reported, as their various financial entanglements came under scrutiny.

    “For Christ’s sake, watch yourself,” the then-candidate told his brother Frank Biden about his potential business activity, according to Politico. “Don’t get sucked into something that would, first of all, hurt you.”

    Biden had pledged in October 2019 that if elected to be the president, “No one in my family will have an office in the White House, will sit in on meetings as if they are a Cabinet member, will, in fact, have any business relationship with anyone that relates to a foreign corporation or a foreign country,” according to USA Today. 

    But the activities of his son Hunter Biden became a major issue in the closing days of the presidential campaign. And even after the election, as of late December, Hunter Biden owned a 10% stake in a Chinese private equity firm.

    Hunter Biden introduces his father, former Vice President Joe Biden, during the World Food Program USA’s 2016 McGovern-Dole Leadership Award Ceremony at the Organization of American States on April 12, 2016, in Washington, D.C. (Kris Connor/WireImage)

    BIDEN’S BROTHER PROMOTED RELATIONSHIP WITH PRESIDEN IN AD FOR FLORIDA LAW FIRM: REPORT

    Biden in December said “I’m confident,” that Hunter Biden has done nothing wrong, amid a Department of Justice probe into his tax affairs. Biden’s vowed to stay out of that probe. 

    Also during the campaign, former business associate Tony Bobulinski alleged that Biden brother Jim Biden was allegedly in the know on Hunter Biden’s business dealings.

    Bobulinski told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson he raised concerns in 2017 to Jim Biden about Joe Biden’s alleged ties to a possible joint venture with a Chinese energy firm.

    Bobulinski, a retired lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, was the CEO of SinoHawk Holdings, which he said was the partnership between the CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming and the two Biden family members.

    “I remember saying, ‘How are you guys getting away with this?’ ‘Aren’t you concerned?’” he told Carlson.

    He claims that Jim Biden chuckled. “‘Plausible deniability.’ He said it directly to me in a cabana at the Peninsula Hotel,” Bobulinski said.

    Jim Biden refused to answer questions from Fox News during late October on the Biden family’s business dealings. 

    Tony Bobulinski, a former associate of Hunter Biden, talks with reporters before the presidential debate, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020, in Nashville. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

    Now that President Biden is in office, a Biden-connected law firm is under scrutiny for an ad that it ran on Inauguration Day.

    Frank Biden is a senior adviser to the Florida-based Berman Law Group. And according to CNBC, he appeared in an ad in the Daily Business Review, a Florida publication, promoting a lawsuit against sugar cane companies. According to CNBC, the ad included quotes referencing Frank Biden’s relationship with President Biden. 

    During the initial stages of the coronavirus pandemic, Berman Law Group also often referenced Frank Biden’s role as a senior adviser while discussing a class-action lawsuit against China for starting the coronavirus pandemic. 

    HUNTER BIDEN STILL OWNS 10% STAKE IN CHINESE PRIVATE EQUITY FIRM, BUSINESS RECORDS SHOW

    Frank Biden told CNBC that he “never used my brother to obtain clients for my firm… Social justice is something I have been involved in for years.”

    Next up on the Biden family controversies may be the confirmation hearing for Biden attorney general nominee Merrick Garland. 

    In this Jan. 7, 2021, file photo, President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for attorney general, Judge Merrick Garland, speaks during an event at The Queen Theater in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

    Garland is a judge on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals with an excellent reputation and was previously former President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee. He’s likely to be eventually confirmed. 

    But first, he’ll likely face a slew of questions from Republican senators during his confirmation hearing asking whether he’ll stay out of the way of an ongoing Justice Department investigation into Hunter Biden’s business dealings.

    “Americans deserve to know that this investigation will not be hampered in any way by the change in administrations, and the attorney general nominee should make this point clear,” a spokesperson for Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told Fox News. “So yes, you can expect that Sen. Grassley will be asking about his role in this investigation.”

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    “It is very likely the topic is raised,” a spokesperson for Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also on the Judiciary Committee, told Fox News.

    Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is also on the Judiciary Committee. He expressed confidence that Garland would run an aboveboard Justice Department. 

    “Judge Garland’s extensive legal experience makes him well-suited to lead the Department of Justice, and I appreciated his commitment to keep politics out of the Justice Department. That is my number one criterion for who should be the next Head of the Department of Justice as Attorney General,” Cornyn said. “I think both sides should support a depoliticized Justice Department, and that’s what I hope Judge Garland, once confirmed, will deliver.”

    Fox News’ Alex Pappas, Ronn Blitzer, Yael Halon, Peter Hasson and Marisa Schultz contributed to this report. 

    GOP Sen. Lankford apologizes to Black constituents for efforts to contest election

    Republican Sen. James Lankford, Okla., wrote a letter Thursday apologizing to Black constituents for not realizing how his efforts to contest election results would be perceived. 

    In a letter addressed to “My friends in North Tulsa,” the senator said he deeply regrets his “blindness” to how his election challenges could be perceived by the Black community– as a “direct attack on their right to vote.” 

    Last month Lankford announced he would take part in an effort led by Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., to vote against the Electoral College results and call for a 10-day audit to assess voter fraud.

    He backed down from contesting after rioters stormed the Capitol last week. 

    HOT MIC CATCHES MOMENT STAFFER TELLS LANKFORD THAT ‘PROTESTERS ARE IN THE BUILDING’ 

    “It was never my intention to disenfranchise any voter or state,” the senator wrote. “It was my intention to resolve any outstanding questions before the inauguration on Jan. 20.” 

    “But my action of asking for more election information caused a firestorm of suspicion among many of my friends, particularly among Black communities around the state,” he said, adding that he was “completely blindsided” by the response. 

    “What I did not realize was all of the national conversation about states like Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, was seen as casting doubt on the validity of votes coming out of predominantly Black communities like Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Detroit,” he wrote.

    “After decades of fighting for voting rights, many Black friends in Oklahoma saw this as a direct attack on their right to vote, for their vote to matter, and even a belief that their votes made an election in our country illegitimate,” he continued.

    Lankford noted the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre, pointing to areas of improvement since the tragedy but noting “opportunity and investment gaps remain.” 

    Between May 31 and June 1, 1921, mobs of armed White residents attacked Black Tulsans and their businesses in the Greenwood District, which at the time was the wealthiest Black community in the country. The death toll is not clear, but historians believe as many as 300 may have been murdered.

    LANKFORD INSISTS LINGERING QUESTIONS ABOUT 2020 ELECTION ‘NEED TO BE ANSWERED’

    “There is also too little cultural understanding between people of different races in the communities of Oklahoma, which is something I was reminded of just last week,” Lanford said.  

    Several Black leaders in Tulsa have called for Lankford’s expulsion or removal from the 1921 Race Massacre Centennial Committee due to his efforts to contest election results this week. Lankford said at the time that after speaking with Black leaders he’d come to understand why his efforts could be seen as Black voter disenfranchisement. 

    “I was shocked [when Black friends] said to me, ‘This was about keeping African Americans from voting.’ My comment to them was, ‘That never crossed my mind. Why would I do that? Why would I think that?’” he told Tulsa World. 

    “I’ve had some time now to visit with them and to hear them out, and I understand where they’re coming from,” Lankford said.

    “Some people caught me and said, ‘Let me describe it to you this way’ — and they were spot on with this — ‘You hear the president say, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania are problems. We hear the president say, Atlanta, Detroit and Philadelphia are problems.’

    “And I said, ‘You’re exactly correct. I hear what you’re saying now.’”

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    “I can assure you, my intent to give a voice to Oklahomans who had questions was never also an intent to diminish the voice of any Black American. I should have recognized how what I said and what I did could be interpreted by many of you,” he concluded in his letter. “I deeply regret my blindness to that perception, and for that I am sorry.”

    Schumer calls for everyone inside Capitol during riots to be placed on no-fly list

    Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has called on the administration to place those inside the Capitol during last week’s riots on the no-fly list, claiming that some desired to return to Washington or commit violence elsewhere.

    “We are concerned about these people getting back on airplanes and doing more violence,” he said during a press conference in New York City.

    He added that “the insurrectionists who breached the U.S. Capitol fall under the definition of threats to the homeland and should be immediately added to the TSA [Transportation Security Administration] no-fly list.”

    “We are calling on the authorities — the FBI, the TSA — any of those who were inside the Capitol should be placed on the no-fly list and not be allowed to fly.”

    CAPITOL HILL RIOTS LEAVE DEMS SPLIT OVER DOMESTIC TERRORISM LAW AND CRIMINALIZING DISSENT

    In a statement Monday, TSA said it was beefing up law enforcment’s presence at three major airports in the D.C. area. The agency clarified that it was screening travelers and that those on no fly-lists would not receive boarding passes.

    Schumer’s briefing came after President Trump criticized Big Tech companies earlier in the day, suggesting they were creating anger in the country.

    “I think that big tech is doing a horrible thing for our country and to our country,” he told the press, apparently referring to restrictions on his account and others. 

    “And I believe it’s going to be a catastrophic mistake for them. They’re dividing and divisive, and they’re showing something that I’ve been predicting for a long time … But I think big tech has made a terrible mistake, and very, very bad for our country. And that’s leading others to do the same thing, and it causes a lot of problems and a lot of danger.”

    When asked about his role in last week’s violence, Trump appeared to defend a speech he gave on the national mall just before rioters stormed the Capitol. 

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    At his press conference, Schumer suggested Trump was blaming others and engaging in a “pathological technique used by the worst of the dictators.”

    He added that Trump’s statements were further evidence for his ongoing demand that the president be removed from office before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

    Secret Service investigating death threats against Pence

    The U.S. Secret Service is investigating death threats against Vice President Mike Pence made by pro-Trump lawyer Lin Wood, Fox News has learned.

    Wood, who was banned from Twitter last week, is suspected of writing a now-deleted post on Parler: “Get the firing squads ready. Pence goes FIRST.”

    Vice President Mike Pence listens after reading the final certification of Electoral College votes cast in November’s presidential election during a joint session of Congress after working through the night, at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 7. 
    (AP)

    “We are aware of the comments and take all threats against our protectees seriously,” a Secret Service spokesman told Fox News on Saturday.

    The Secret Service and other federal agencies also are investigating others seen on a video inside the U.S. Capitol yelling “Hang Pence.”

    The threats to the vice president come days after a pro-Trump group stormed the U.S. Capitol to protest the formal certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. Lawmakers, staff members and others hid under tables and evacuated as the rioters roamed the halls of the Capitol, bearing pro-Trump flags and pounding on doors.

    ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER CONDEMNS TRUMP AS ‘WORST PRESIDENT EVER’ AFTER CAPITOL RIOT

    A source close to Pence told Fox News on Wednesday that while Pence was sheltering in “hardened rooms” in the Capitol, President Trump did not reach out to him to check on his status or condemn those who said the vice president “should be executed.”

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    Later in the week the hashtag “Hang Mike Pence” was trending on Twitter. A Twitter spokesperson told Fox News on Saturday that the company had “blocked the phrase and other variations of it from trending.”

    Fox News’ David Spunt and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Jim Jordan: Dems changed states’ election rules in ‘unconstitutional fashion’

    House and Senate Republicans will present “evidence” Wednesday of Democrats unconstitutionally going around key state legislatures in the 2020 presidential election, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told “Fox & Friends.”

    The House Judiciary Committee ranking member said the effort to object to certifying the results of a victory for President-elect Joe Biden over President Trump is the “only remedy left” by the Constitution.

    “We know that five states, some of the five key states that were critical in this election, changed their election law in an unconstitutional fashion,” Jordan, who is expected to receive the Medal of Freedom from Trump next week, told co-host Brian Kilmeade.

    ELECTORAL COLLEGE OBJECTIONS IN CONGRESS: WHAT TO KNOW

    He said they plan to debate Arizona first, pointing to how an Obama-appointed judge extended the registration date 18 days despite state law in “an end-run around the Constitution.”

    That is the template Democrats used “in state after state because they knew under the real rules, the rules that the legislature, according to the Constitution is supposed to set, they knew they couldn’t win and they’ve been trying and trying,” Jordan said.

    At least 100 House Republicans and 13 Senate Republicans, with Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, leading the way, are joining Jordan in the effort, while demonstrations are planned in Washington, D.C., and Trump is expected to address crowds at 11 a.m.

    “Democrats never wanted to talk about it. We’ve asked for an investigation for nine weeks, so today’s the day that the founders gave to Congress, the ultimate day of significance, and we’re going to have that debate on the House floor,” Jordan said.

    TRUMP PRESSURES PENCE AHEAD OF ELECTORAL COLLEGE CERTIFICATION: ‘THIS IS A TIME FOR EXTREME COURAGE’

    “We put out a report in September that let the world know this is what Democrats are doing. … We had the hearings in the summer where they brought in the postmaster general and attacked him. So they were planning this, this was the Democrats’ strategy, and there were times when the Trump campaign did go to court and try to stop it, but they went to Democrat judges, Democrat secretaries of state, Democrat governors, sometimes it was Democrat county clerks who unilaterally changed the law, so they just did it and they did it in an unconstitutional fashion.”

    Although not all Republican representatives are supporting the effort, Jordan said his job is to convince them and the American people when the joint session convenes Wednesday afternoon. 

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    “This is about that debate today in convincing our colleagues that they should not certify those elections from those states,” he said.

    Trump says he, Pence in ‘total agreement’ VP has ‘power’ to block certification of ‘illegal’ election

    President Trump on Tuesday said he and Vice President Mike Pence are “in total agreement” that the vice president “has the power to act” and block the certification of the 2020 presidential election results on Wednesday.  

    The president’s comments came after The New York Times on Tuesday reported that Pence, during a conversation with Trump, told him that he had no power to block the certification of the election results during the joint session of Congress on Wednesday. 

    TRUMP SLAMS MCCONNELL, THUNE, CORNYN AS ‘WEAK,’ ‘INEFFECTIVE’ RINOS AHEAD OF ELECTORAL COLLEGE CERTIFICATION

    “The New York Times report regarding comments Vice President Pence supposedly made to me today is fake news. He never said that,” Trump said in a statement Tuesday night. “The Vice President and I are in total agreement that the Vice President has the power to act.”

    The president said that the election was “corrupt in contested states, and in particular it was not in accordance with the Constitution in that they made large scale changes to election rules and regulations as dictated by local judges and politicians, not by state legislators.”

    “This means that it was illegal,” Trump said.

    Trump went on to say that Pence has “several options under the U.S. Constitution.”

    TRUMP PUTS PRESSURE ON PENCE AHEAD OF ELECTION SHOWDOWN IN CONGRESS

    “He can decertify the results or send them back to the states for change and certification,” Trump said. “He can also decertify the illegal and corrupt results and send them to the House of Representatives for the one vote for one state tabulation.”

    A spokesman for Pence declined to comment.

    Vice President Mike Pence will preside over the joint session on Wednesday, but he is expected to play a mostly ceremonial role.

    On Tuesday morning, the president insisted that Pence has the power to overturn the election results.

    “The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors,” the president tweeted on Tuesday morning.

    And Monday night, at an election eve rally in Georgia for the two GOP senators running in the state’s twin U.S. Senate runoff contests, Trump told the large crowd of supporters, “I hope Mike Pence comes through for us, I have to tell you.”

    “I hope that our great vice president – our great vice president, comes through for us. He’s a great guy. Of course, if he doesn’t come through, I won’t like him as much,” Trump emphasized.

    But White House officials told Fox News on Tuesday that Pence will “follow the law,” saying that Pence is “taking a very diligent and studious approach to his job tomorrow.” 

    “He has consulted at length with staff. He has gone through the Electoral Count Act several times,” an official said. “He has read legal opinions, met with the Senate parliamentarian and consulted with outside experts on the subject matter.”

    But those officials add that “the vice president will follow the law. He will act tomorrow with fidelity to the law and the Constitution.”

    Meanwhile, more than a dozen Senate Republicans have said they will object to the certification of the presidential election results in at least one state, and more than 100 House Republican members said they plan to object to results in Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Georgia. 

    But Republicans, like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Sens. John Thune of South Dakota, John Cornyn of Texas, Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Tim Scott of South Carolina, among others, have committed to voting to certify the election results. 

    Trump has repeatedly charged for two months that the presidential election was “rigged” and has claimed that there was “massive voter fraud” in a handful of battleground states where Biden narrowly edged the president, to score a 306-232 Electoral College victory over the GOP incumbent.

    CRUZ-LED GROUP TO OBJECT TO CERTIFICATION OF ELECTION RESULTS IN AT LEAST 1 STATE, PUSH ELECTORAL COMMISSION

    The Trump campaign has launched a number of legal challenges, while Trump himself has urged states with Republican governors and legislatures to overturn Joe Biden’s victories.

    While the Trump campaign has challenged the results in dozens of lawsuits, judges in multiple states have shot them down. Attorney General William Barr told the Associated Press last month that “to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.”

    Meanwhile, on the sidelines of the joint-session of Congress, the president is expected to speak at a pro-Trump rally in Washington, D.C. 

    “I will be speaking at the SAVE AMERICA RALLY tomorrow on the Ellipse at 11AM Eastern. Arrive early—doors open at 7AM Eastern. BIG CROWDS!” Trump tweeted Tuesday night.

    The president, last month, promised a “wild” protest in the nation’s capital on Jan. 6, while reiterating his claims that it was “statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 Election.”

    Also Tuesday night, the president tweeted that Washington is “being inundated with people who don’t want to see an election victory stolen by emboldened Radical Left Democrats.” 

    “Our Country has had enough, they won’t take it anymore! We hear you (and love you) from the Oval Office,” Trump tweeted. “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

    Fox News’ John Roberts and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. 

    Baier presses Hawley over elector challenge: Are you arguing ‘Trump will be president’ Jan. 20?

    Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told Fox News Monday night that he intends to challenge slates of electors from a handful of swing states “to raise the concerns that my constituents have” about the 2020 presidential election.

    “I have heard from people like I’ve never heard before over the last month about this election,” Hawley told Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum during special coverage of the Georgia Senate runoffs. “They have major, major concerns about the integrity, the fairness of this election. And they expect me to stand up and to raise those concerns. And this is the only forum I have to do it.”

    Hawley added that his constituents also “want action.

    “They want an investigation into these irregularities. They want new election laws to make sure that our elections are secure going forward,” he said. “This is my chance to stand up and speak for them. And somebody has got to take their concerns seriously and speak up. And that’s what I’m going to do.”

    CRUZ-LED GROUP TO OBJECT TO CERTIFICATION OF ELECTION RESULTS IN AT LEAST ONE STATE

    “I just want to pin you down on on what you’re trying to do,” Baier told Hawley later in the segment. “Are you trying to say that, as of January 20th, that President Trump will be president?”

    “Well, that depends on what happens on Wednesday,” Hawley answered. “I mean, this is why we have the debate.”

    “No, it doesn’t,” Baier responded. “I mean, the states, by the Constitution … they certify the election. They did certify it. By the Constitution, Congress doesn’t have the right to overturn the certification, at least as most experts read it.”

    At another point in the interview, Hawley restated that “this is my only opportunity during this process to raise an objection and to be heard. I don’t have standing to file lawsuits. I’m not a prosecutor anymore … I can investigate claims of voter fraud on my own, but I do have a responsibility, in this joint session of Congress to either say ‘I’ve got no problem with it’ or ‘I do have a problem with it.'”

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    “Don’t you have the responsibility to your constituents, don’t you have a responsibility to tell them that it’s not going to be President Trump as of January 21st as well?” asked Baier.

    “What I’m trying to do something more than just that,” Hawley answered. “I mean, this is about the integrity of our elections and this is about taking a stand where you can take a stand.”

    Georgia election official slams Trump claims of widespread voter fraud as ‘easily, provably false’

    Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling on Monday slammed President Trump for continuing to claim widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, saying that the claims are “easily” and “provably false.”

    Sterling, a Republican, and Georgia’s voting system implementation manager, delivered a point-by-point rebuttal to claims made by the president; his attorney, Rudy Giuliani; and others regarding the results of the presidential race in Georgia.

    TRUMP LAWYER SLAMS GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE FOR ‘SECRETLY’ RECORDING ‘CONFIDENTIAL’

    “There was not massive voter fraud in presidential election,” Sterling said. “There is no shredding of ballots going on. That’s not real. That’s not happening. This office has been open and transparent. We are continuing investigations.”

    He added: “We have seen nothing in our investigations of any of these data claims that shows there are nearly enough ballots to change the outcome and the secretary and I, at this podium, have said this since November 3.”

    “This is all easily, provably false, yet the president persists,” Sterling said.

    Sterling’s press conference came just a day after audio of President Trump’s call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was published by the Washington Post.

    During the call, according to audio obtained by the Washington Post, the president said: “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”

    TRUMP URGED GEORGIA ELECTION OFFICIALS TO ‘FIND’ VOTES IN PHONE CALL, INSISTING HE WON

    According to the Post, Trump later added: “So what are we going to do here, folks? I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break.”

    Georgia certified election results show that Trump’s Democratic opponent Joe Biden won the state’s Nov. 3 election by 11,779 votes.

    Sterling, during the press conference, addressed the president’s call, saying that when he listened to the audio he “wanted to scream.”

    “I will admit, when I listened to the audio of [Trump’s] phone call … I wanted to scream,” Sterling said. “Well, I did scream at the computer, and I screamed in my car, at the radio, talking about this … because this has been debunked.”

    Also on Monday, the president’s attorney, Kurt Hilbert, said that he and the legal team “are disappointed that the secretary of state and his staff secretly recorded and released a confidential settlement discussion to settle the two pending lawsuits.”

    “While they may think that behavior is appropriate, we do not,” Hilbert continued. “Consequently, we will not be commenting on settlement discussions.” 

    President Trump has refused to concede to President-elect Joe Biden, and his campaign has launched a number of legal challenges. The president, himself, has urged states with Republican governors and legislatures to overturn Biden’s victories.  

    But while the Trump campaign has challenged the results in dozens of lawsuits, judges in multiple states have shot them down. Attorney General William Barr told the Associated Press last month that “to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.”

    Meanwhile, during the press conference, Sterling said Georgia election officials acknowledge that “there is illegal voting in every single election in the history of mankind, because there are human beings involved in the process.”

    “It’s going to happen, it’s a question of limiting it and putting as many safeguards in place to make sure it does not happen,” Sterling said.

    The press conference comes just a day before Georgia’s Tuesday, Jan. 5, Senate runoffs, pitting Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., against Democrat Raphael Warnock and Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., against Democrat Jon Ossoff.

    Control of the Senate is in play on Tuesday. If Democrats win both Georgia races, they will bring the body to an effective 50-50 tie, allowing Harris to break ties on votes that fall along party lines. 

    Sterling urged Georgians to turn out and vote Tuesday, and assured that “everybody’s vote is going to count.”

    “Everybody’s vote is going to count. Everybody’s vote did count,” Sterling said. “Everyone has an obligation to turn out and vote tomorrow, whether you’re a Democrat or Republican.”

    He added: “We are specifically asking you and telling you, please turn out and vote tomorrow.”

    Battle lines drawn in GOP over planned Electoral College challenges, certification set for Wednesday

    Republicans in Congress are staking out their positions ahead of Wednesday’s joint session to certify the Electoral College results. Some members are throwing their support behind Trump-backed challenges to votes in states President-elect Joe Biden won and others are warning of the dangers of such an extraordinary effort to essentially overturn the presidential election.

    The Wednesday showdown in the Capitol, which could bleed into Thursday or even beyond depending on how long Trump allies in Congress try to drag it out, will set up the ultimate loyalty test to the president for Republicans. Do they back Trump’s unsubstantiated claims to the bitter end or do they break with the president, potentially leading to a Trump-backed primary challenge, as the president has already promised against several high-profile members of his party?

    The issue is also spurring heavy friendly fire among Republicans after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., managed to guide a largely united caucus almost all the way through Trump’s term, only to see that unity break down in the final 20 days of his presidency. McConnell was reported to have discouraged Electoral College challenges among his caucus. 

    Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, made his position clear in a biting statement Sunday. 

    WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN CONGRESS MEETS TO COUNT ELECTORAL COLLEGE RESULTS

    “The egregious ploy to reject electors may enhance the political ambition of some, but dangerously threatens our Democratic Republic. The congressional power to reject electors is reserved for the most extreme and unusual circumstances. These are far from it,” Romney said. 

    He added: “President Trump’s lawyers made their case before scores of courts; in every instance, they failed. The Justice Department found no evidence of irregularity sufficient to overturn the election. The Presidential Voter Fraud Commission disbanded without finding such evidence.”

    Romney’s statement was in reaction to a group of senators led by Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who said they would vote to reject electors from states that are disputed unless Congress sets an “emergency 10-day audit” of the election results. 

    “By any measure, the allegations of fraud and irregularities in the 2020 election exceed any in our lifetimes,” a statement by Cruz and the rest in his coalition read. “Accordingly, we intend to vote on January 6 to reject the electors from disputed states as not ‘regularly given’ and ‘lawfully certified’ (the statutory requisite), unless and until that emergency 10-day audit is completed.”

    Joining Cruz were Sens. Ron Johnson. R-Wis.; James Lankford, R-Okla.; Steve Daines, R-Mont.; John Kennedy, R-La.; Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.; Mike Braun, R-Ind.; Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo.; Roger Marshall, R-Kan.; Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn.; and Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala. 

    Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks at a campaign rally for Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., on Saturday, Jan. 2, 2021, in Cumming, Ga. Cruz plans to vote to reject electoral votes from states’ whose results are challenged Wednesday. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

    The commission, the senators say, would mirror something Congress set up in 1876. Some Republicans have also said Democrats are hypocritical for attacking them over objecting to states’ electors after Democrats did the same the past three times a Republican won the presidency. 

    GOP SENATORS WANT ELECTION COMMISSION SIMILAR TO WHAT DECIDED DISPUTED 1876 RACE

    Cruz and his group followed Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., widely thought of as a 2024 GOP presidential hopeful like Cruz, who was the first senator to announce that he would join House members in objecting to electoral slates on Wednesday. 

    “I cannot vote to certify the electoral college results on January 6 without raising the fact that some states, particularly Pennsylvania, failed to follow their own state election laws,” Hawley said in a statement. 

    Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said Hawley’s planned objections represent an “effort to disenfranchise millions of voters in my state and others.” 

    Hawley fired back: “[W]e should avoid putting words in each other’s mouths and making unfounded claims about the intentions of our fellow senators… But instead of debating the issue of election integrity by press release, conference call or email, perhaps we could debate on the Senate floor for all of the American people to judge.”

    Challenges to any states’ slates of electoral votes are almost certain to fail. Democrats, who hold a majority in the House, are expected to vote against rejecting electors. And there are enough Republicans in both the House and the Senate who oppose that effort to prevent it from having any chance of success. 

    Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., questions Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin during a Congressional Oversight Commission hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday Dec. 10, 2020. Toomey opposes efforts to reject states’ slates of electoral votes. (Sarah Silbiger/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)
    (AP)

    Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., another rumored presidential hopeful, attempted to walk a thin political line Sunday in a statement raising concerns about “irregularities in the presidential election” but opposed members of Congress imposing on the electors sent to them by states. 

    APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS DISMISSAL OF GOHMERT’S LAWSUIT CHALLENGING 2020 ELECTION RESULTS

    “I share the concerns of many Arkansans about irregularities in the presidential election… I therefore support a commission to study the last election and propose reforms to protect the integrity of our elections,” Cotton said. “Nevertheless, the Founders entrusted our elections chiefly to the states—not Congress… And they entrusted the adjudication of election disputes to the courts—not Congress. Under the Constitution and federal law, Congress’s power is limited to counting electoral votes submitted by the states.”

    Cotton added: “If Congress purported to overturn the results of the Electoral College, it would not only exceed that power, but also establish unwise precedents. First, Congress would take away the power to choose the president from the people, which would essentially end presidential elections and place that power in the hands of whichever party controls Congress. Second, Congress would imperil the Electoral College, which gives small states like Arkansas a voice in presidential elections.”

    Cotton’s statement was similar to one released by Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas; Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D.; Ken Buck, R-Colo.; Mike Gallagher R-Wis.; Nancy Mace, R-S.C.; Thomas Massie, R-Ky.; and Tom McClintock, R-Calif. 

    Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) speaks to the crowd during a “Defend the Majority” rally for U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and Sen. David Purdue (R-GA) at the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agriculture Center on November 19, 2020 in Perry, Georgia. Cotton warned over the weekend that Republicans trying to reject electoral votes for Joe Biden may be putting the presidency at risk for Republicans who win elections in the future. (Photo by Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)

    They slammed “significant abuses in our election system,” but added, “only the states have authority to appoint electors, in accordance with state law. Congress has only a narrow role in the presidential election process. Its job is to count the electors submitted by the states, not to determine which electors the states should have sent.”

    The lawmakers further warned, “To take action otherwise – that is, to unconstitutionally insert Congress into the center of the presidential election process – would amount to stealing power from the people and the states. It would, in effect, replace the electoral college with Congress, and in so doing strengthen the efforts of those on the left who are determined to eliminate it or render it irrelevant.”

    DEMOCRATS WHO PRAISED 2004 OBJECTIONS TO ELECTORAL COLLEGE CERTIFICATION NOW SLAM HAWLEY

    Amid the political posturing by many in Washington, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said Wednesday that most of it isn’t honest. The senator, who has been a consistent Trump critic, in a lengthy Facebook post said that Republicans do not actually believe the president’s claims that he won the election or that there is widespread fraud. 

    “When we talk in private, I haven’t heard a single Congressional Republican allege that the election results were fraudulent – not one,” Sasse said. “Instead, I hear them talk about their worries about how they will ‘look’ to President Trump’s most ardent supporters.”

    Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the chair of the House GOP conference, sent a letter to her colleagues Sunday warning that both the act of objecting of voting to reject a slate of electors is “exceptionally dangerous” and that “commission” proposed by Cruz and his group “is even more problematic.”

    “Such objections set an exceptionally dangerous precedent, threatening to steal states’ explicit constitutional responsibility for choosing the President and bestowing it instead on Congress,” Cheney said in her letter. “This is directly at odds with the Constitution’s clear text and our core beliefs as Republicans.”

    Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said that Republicans voting to reject slates of electors from states President-elect Biden won sets “an exceptionally dangerous precedent.” (Photo by: William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC NewsWire via Getty Images)

    Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., meanwhile is among several new Republican members who have said they will object to the certification of Biden electors. 

    “This is not just about President Trump,” Moore said. “It’s about the will of the American people.”

    PERDUE SUPPORTS FELLOW GOP SENATORS IN CHALLENGING ELECTION

    Rep. Jerry Carl, R-Ala., said that “President Trump has had our backs, and now is the time for us to have his as he rightfully pursues challenges to election fraud.”

    GOP politicians staking out claims either for or against the Electoral College challenges also comes after audio of a remarkable phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was released Sunday by the Washington Post. 

    During the call, on which Trump repeats a series of debunked claims of election fraud or irregularities, the president asks Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” — one more vote than Trump lost the state by. Trump on the call also repeatedly falsely claimed he won Georgia by “hundreds of thousands of votes.”

    Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., who has been one of the most vocal critics of Trump within the GOP, said that Trump’s call with Raffensperger puts challenges to the Electoral College certification in an even worse light. 

    “This is absolutely appalling,” he tweeted. “To every member of Congress considering objecting to the election results, you cannot — in light of this — do so with a clean conscience.”

    Even as many GOP members of Congress have taken public positions ahead of the Wednesday certification, a large chunk of the party has remained silent, avoiding publicly crossing the president but also not backing the ill-fated attempts to overturn the election. 

    Among those who don’t have the luxury of remaining silent are Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., and David Perdue, a Republican whose Senate term expired Sunday but has a chance to win reelection. They’re each in a close runoff election for their Senate seats that is set for Tuesday, with Trump scheduled to stump in the state on their behalf Monday. 

    Publicly crossing the president could make either of the senators a target of the president’s Twitter ire, which he has directed at several of their fellow Senate GOP colleagues in recent days. 

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    Perdue on “Sunday Morning Futures” vocally backed the Electoral College challenges.

    “I’m encouraging my colleagues to object,” he said. “This is something that the American people demand right now. You heard in the last section that there are huge irregularities in Georgia. They need to be investigated and they need to be corrected, in my opinion.”

    Loeffler on “Fox News Sunday,” meanwhile, dodged a question on whether or not she would join the objections to the Electoral College. 

    “‘I’ve said from the start everything’s on the table here and I’m seriously looking at that,” she said. “We have to make sure that Georgia and all of Americans trust our voting process. But my number one objective right now has to be winning on Jan. 5th.”

    Perdue and Loeffler have also both vocally backed Trump’s claims of voter fraud and refused to acknowledge Biden as the president-elect, even as many of their Senate colleagues have done so. They both previously called for Raffensperger to resign over the state’s elections and Perdue on Sunday said it is “disgusting” that a recorded call of the president would leak.

    Fox News’ Brooke Singman, Marisa Schultz, Chad Pergram and Eddie DeMarche contributed to this report. 

    Trump the clear Republican ‘front-runner’ in next White House race

    There’s more than three years to go until the next Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire presidential primary, but what some considered the first cattle call in the 2024 White House race takes place next week.

    That’s when the Republican National Committee (RNC) holds its annual winter meeting, which will be held in-person on Amelia Island, Fla., Jan. 6-8.

    WOULD A TRUMP 2024 ANNOUNCEMENT FREEZE OUT GOP RIVALS?

    While re-electing chair Ronna McDaniel and choosing vice chairs and other officials tops the agenda, the gathering of the 168 committee members and other prominent GOP officials will also be an opportunity for some of the potential contenders for the next Republican presidential nomination to make friends and build bonds with the party’s top activists, fundraisers and rainmakers.

    Topping the list of possible White House hopefuls at the confab will be President Trump, who is scheduled to address the crowd on the second day of the gathering.

    President Trump raises his fist at the end of a rally to support Republican Senate candidates at Valdosta Regional Airport in Valdosta, Ga., on Dec. 5, 2020. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

    Trump, who continues to fight the 2020 election results and refuses to concede to President-elect Joe Biden, publicly hinted at the beginning of December that another presidential campaign may be in the cards.

    “It’s been an amazing four years. We are trying to do another four years. Otherwise, I’ll see you in four years,” the president told supporters at a White House holiday party for RNC members. Two GOP sources who attended the function confirmed the president’s comments to Fox News.

    Behind closed doors, Trump has told advisers that he wants to run again in four years, and he could potentially announce his bid before or even during Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, according to reporting from Fox News’ chief White House correspondent John Roberts.

    TRUMP HIINTS AT 2024 WHITE HOUSE RUN

    The president is scheduled to speak at the RNC confab the day after a joint session of Congress is widely expected to certify Biden’s 306-232 Electoral College victory after objections from some pro-Trump House and Senate Republicans.

    Trump won’t be the only potential 2024 contender at the RNC gathering.

    Vice President Mike Pence, who likely harbors presidential ambitions, is also scheduled to attend.

    Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a “Save the Majority” rally on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

    And Fox News confirmed earlier this month that a bunch of other possible White House hopefuls have also been invited. The list includes former United Nations ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Ted Cruz of Texas, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Tim Scott of South Carolina, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott of Florida, and Govs. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Kristi Noem of South Dakota.

    “The RNC members represent the grassroots across the country, and so it’s an important place for potential ’24 candidates to come and talk about their vision for the country,” longtime national party committee member from Mississippi Henry Barbour told Fox News.

    Despite suffering the first veto override of his presidency, Trump remains extremely influential among Republican lawmakers and his popularity among Republican base voters and other Trump supporters remains sky high.

    MARYLAND GOV. HOGAN WANTS GOP TO RETURN ‘TO IT’S ROOTS’

    Trump has made it clear that he intends to stay very involved in Republican Party politics after he leaves the White House on Jan. 20. He set up a leadership PAC immediately after the November election, and much of the fundraising the past two for his legal moves to contest the election results are being steered to the new organization. Trump also endorsed McDaniel – a major ally – for another term steering the RNC. And he has targeted Republicans such as Govs. Brian Kemp of Georgia and Mike DeWine of Ohio, and Sen. John Thune of South Dakota – who are all up for reelection in 2022 – for refusing to help him upend the presidential election results or for acknowledging Biden’s victory.

    Trump’s presidential approval rating among Republicans has stayed in the stratosphere. It stood at 86% in a Fox News national poll and at 90% in an NPR/PBS/Marist survey, which were both conducted in early December.

    The percentage of Republicans who want Trump to run for president again in 2024 – 71% in the Fox News poll and 57% in the NPR/PBS/Marist survey – is significantly lower, but still a very solid majority.

    It was a similar story in a USA Today/Suffolk University national poll conducted last week. Nine out of 10 Republicans gave the job Trump is doing in the White House a thumbs up – with 71% of them saying they would vote for Trump again in 2024 if he runs.

    No other potential GOP White House hopeful comes close.

    Nearly two-thirds of Republicans in New Hampshire, the state that holds the first primary in the race for the White House, say they would like to see Trump make a 2024 bid to return to the White House. That’s according to a survey from the University of New Hampshire (UNH) conducted in November.

    “Until Republicans come up with an obvious person to replace Trump, he’s going to be seen as the front-runner going into 2024,” noted UNH Survey Center director Andrew Smith.

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    Barbour emphasized that “of course Trump is the front-runner. He’s the president of the United States. He’s been a force unlike we’ve seen in the last several decades in American people.”

    But while noting Trump’s “front-runner” status at this extremely early point in the next White House race, Barbour forecast that “like the ’16 cycle, this will be a wide-open race and there will be an opportunity for others to emerge, but they’ll have to perform, as will President Trump.”