Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who is serving on a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, slams Steve Scalise for spreading Donald Trump\u2019s ‘Big Lie.’<\/b>
\nWASHINGTON \u2014 The House\u2019s second-ranking Republican, Rep. Steve Scalise, repeatedly refused to say on Sunday that the 2020 election wasn\u2019t stolen, standing by Donald Trump\u2019s lie that DemocratBiden won the White House because of mass voter fraud. More than 11 months after Americans picked their president and almost nine months since Biden was inaugurated, Scalise was unwilling during a national television interview to acknowledge the legitimacy of the vote, instead sticking to his belief that the election results should not have been certified by Congress. \u201cI\u2019ve been very clear from the beginning,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you look at a number of states, they didn\u2019t follow their state-passed laws that govern the election for president. That is what the United States Constitution says. They don\u2019t say the states determine what the rules are. They say the state legislatures determine the rules,\u201d the Louisiana congressman said on \u201cFox News Sunday.\u201d Pressed by moderator Chris Wallace on whether the election went beyond a few irregularities to be considered \u201cstolen,\u201d Scalise responded: \u201cIt\u2019s not just irregularities. It\u2019s states that did not follow the laws set which the Constitution says they\u2019re supposed to follow.\u201d Trump left office in January a few weeks after a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol in a violent riot in an attempt to prevent Congress from formally declaring Biden the winner. As Trump mulls a 2024 presidential bid, he has been intensifying efforts to shame \u2013 and potentially remove \u2013 members of his party who are seen as disloyal to his bogus claims that last year\u2019s election was illegitimate. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California, who is vying to become speaker if the GOP takes control after the 2022 midterm election, continues to defend Trump and his false assertions. At a rally Saturday in Iowa, Trump spent almost 30 minutes arguing falsely that he had won Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds stood by and welcomed his return to their state. In fact, no election was stolen from Trump. His former attorney general, William Barr, found no evidence of widespread election corruption. Allegations of massive voting fraud also have been dismissed by a succession of judges and refuted by state election officials and an arm of the Homeland Security Department during the Trump administration. Scalise on Sunday appeared to be referring to the legal argument, made in several lawsuits backed by Trump before and after last November\u2019s election, that the Constitution gives the power of election administration exclusively to state lawmakers. The suits sought to invalidate a number of pandemic-era accommodations including expanded mail voting that were put in place by governors, state election officials and judges. The high court ultimately turned away the cases, declining to rule on the matter. There\u2019s no indication in any of the suits that changing the COVID-19 accommodations would have altered a state\u2019s election results. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who is serving on a House committee investigating the Jan.6 Capitol insurrection, on Sunday slammed Scalise for spreading Trump\u2019s \u201cBig Lie.\u201d \u201cMillions of Americans have been sold a fraud that the election was stolen,\u201d Cheney tweeted. \u201cRepublicans have a duty to tell the American people that this is not true. Perpetuating the Big Lie is an attack on the core of our constitutional republic.\u201d Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page. Enter your email and password to access comments. Forgot Password? Don’t have a Talk profile? Create one. Invalid username\/password. Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration. Create a commenting profile by providing an email address, password and display name. You will receive an email to complete the registration. Please note the display name will appear on screen when you participate. Already registered? Log in to join the discussion. Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login to participate in the conversation. Here\u2019s why. Use the form below to reset your password. When you’ve submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code. Send questions\/comments to the editors.<\/p>\n