U.S. Representative Lee Zeldin defended President Donald Trump’s attacks on the American electoral system this week while also joining with the president in refusing to recognize Joe Biden as the president-elect.
On Tuesday, a day after the Electoral College cast its votes in accordance with each state’s vote tally, giving President-elect Biden a 306-232 victory, Mr. Zeldin cited “a huge systemic issue” that is “far bigger than a presidential election” as his justification for holding on to the position that the election results certified by all 50 states were not legally sound. He maintains that actions by Democrats in states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Georgia “changed the direction of the outcome.”
He would not rule out supporting a last-ditch challenge to the Electoral College results on the House floor on January 6.
Mr. Zeldin was one of 126 Republican members of the House who signed on to a legal brief filed by lawyers for Mr. Trump in support of a lawsuit brought by the Texas attorney general, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate the Electoral College votes in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia, where support for Mr. Biden tipped the election in his favor.
The Texas lawsuit claimed election protocols adopted in those states to accommodate the challenges of … [more].
