Trump backs plan to contest election result in Congress, amid false claims of fraud

With a joint session of the House and Senate politicians set for the 6th of January, for the counting of electoral votes, President Trump engaged in another Twitter tirade to make unfounded claims about electoral fraud.

In what is usually a confirmatory exercise, sealed certificates submitted by each state are opened by the Vice President - however, if there are written objections from members of the House and the Senate, a vote by both chambers can be triggered.

Several Republican congressmen have already mentioned that they will be objecting to the electoral votes, despite GOP leader Mitch McConnell requesting his party members not to.

In a Twitter tirade, on Saturday morning, President Trump tweeted that "The ‘Justice’ Department and the FBI have done nothing about the 2020 Presidential Election Voter Fraud, the biggest SCAM in our nation's history, despite overwhelming evidence. They should be ashamed. History will remember. Never give up. See everyone in D.C. on January 6th".

As consistent with Twitter's updated policy on electoral reporting, the tweet was immediately tagged with the phrase “This claim about election fraud is disputed”.

In another tweet, also flagged as disputed, the President wrote “If a Democrat Presidential Candidate had an Election Rigged & Stolen, with proof of such acts at a level never seen before, the Democrat Senators would consider it an act of war, and fight to the death. Mitch & the Republicans do NOTHING, just want to let it pass. NO FIGHT!”.

Another tweet read that "The U.S. Supreme Court has been totally incompetent and weak on the massive Election Fraud that took place in the 2020 Presidential Election. We have absolute PROOF, but they don't want to see it - No ‘standing’, they say. If we have corrupt elections, we have no country!”.

President Trump also claimed that President-elect Biden, his incoming successor, was a "fake president", comparing the Presidential Election to those in Afghanistan, stating that "A young military man working in Afghanistan told me that elections in Afghanistan are far more secure and much better run than the USA's 2020 Election. Ours, with its millions and millions of corrupt Mail-In Ballots, was the election of a third world country. Fake President!”.

Prior to the onset of the elections on November 3rd, President Trump signalled that if he lost, he would make claims of fraud and electoral malpractice; and he and his followers have continued to do so since Biden was elected. The Supreme Court has refused to hear a case on the matter, and much of the evidence touted by the President has limited legal standing.

If Republican lawmakers object to the vote-counting on 6 January, the plan is unlikely to work. The rules stipulate that both chambers must vote to support the objections and the House of Representatives is controlled by the Democrats.