Second Ranking House Republican Refuses to Say Biden Won Election
Republican House Minority Whip, Steve Scalise (R-La.), still won’t let go of the lie that the presidential election was stolen from former president Donald Trump.
Scalise refused to say that President Biden won the election after ABC News host Jon Karl asked him point-blank.
“Clear this up for me: Joe Biden won the election. He is the legitimate president of the United States. The election was not stolen, correct?” Karl asked.
Scalise responded by saying, “Biden’s the president,” but qualified his response by quickly pivoting to bullshit talking points about election irregularities that Trump’s allies are still clinging to, regardless of the countless times courts have rejected their claims.
— PoliticsVideo23 (@politicsvideo23) February 21, 2021
So, Karl followed up: “Congressman, I know Joe Biden’s the president. He lives at the White House. I asked you, is he the legitimate president of the United States, and do you concede that this election was not stolen? Very simple question. Please just answer it.”
Scalise used semantics to work around the truth by saying again that Biden is the president without acknowledging that he won the election.
“Once the electors are counted, yes, he’s the legitimate president,” Scalise said. “But if you’re going to ignore the fact that there were states that did not follow their own state legislatively set laws, that’s the issue at heart, that millions of people still are not happy with and don’t want to see happen again.”
The Trump sycophant, who admitted that he hung out with the former president at Mar-a-Lago this weekend, said there’s “a lot of blame to go around” when asked about Trump’s culpability surrounding the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
“So you’re saying he doesn’t bear responsibility?” Karl asked.
Scalise downplayed Trump’s responsibility that day, saying, “Look, President Trump has denounced what happened.”
Karl didn’t let that lie stand, saying, “Let’s also be clear… Donald Trump did not denounce what happened on January 6th on January 6th.”
Rep. Steve Scalise evades questions on Pres. Trump's responsibility in inciting the Jan. 6 siege on the Capitol: "Certainly there's a lot of blame to go around."@jonkarl: "I'm asking about Donald Trump's role in this."
Scalise: "President Trump has denounced what happened." pic.twitter.com/BSCttCKckR
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) February 21, 2021