Plan to Trump-proof 2024 election has some GOP support — and Trump is furious
A bipartisan group of senators is negotiating changes to the Electoral Count Act of 1887 that could prevent Donald Trump from stealing the next presidential election, and he's furious.
The group has met recently to discuss the law governing congressional certifications of presidential elections, which apparently prompted the twice-impeached one-term president to issue a statement insisting that vice president Mike Pence could have -- and should have -- overturned his loss to Joe Biden, reported the Washington Post.
"Donald Trump is in a fury over it," wrote Post columnist Greg Sargent. "What’s darkly amusing here is that Trump himself is making the case for ECA reform as powerfully as anyone could want. He is telegraphing with absolute clarity his intention to rerun his effort in 2024 if the conditions are there for it."
The bipartisan bill would likely clarify that the vice president has no role in counting electors, as does another reform bill introduced by Sen. Angus King (I-ME), which also lays out some additional steps that would prevent a Republican-controlled House from counting fraudulent electors sent by a Trump-friendly governor or state legislature.
"The King bill would trigger a new process of judicial review if electors are appointed in defiance of a state’s previously existing procedures," Sargent wrote. "When courts declare those electors invalid — and validate the winner’s electors — the King bill would require Congress to count the right ones."
Republican lawmakers could also refuse to count a state's legitimately appointed electors, but King's bill would require three-fifths of both chambers to invalidate electors, instead of the simple majority now laid out in ECA -- and the bipartisan group agrees.
"So what will Republicans ultimately do, now that Trump himself has confirmed that opposing ECA reform is tantamount to enabling him to execute his corrupt designs?" Sargent wrote. "We’ll see, but it would be amusing indeed if Trump’s flaunting of his own corruption ultimately helped push them to action."Jan. 6 docs from Mike Pence that Trump tried to block will be handed to Congress in 30 days
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