Skip to main content

tv   NEWSHOUR  Al Jazeera  January 6, 2021 9:00pm-10:01pm +03

9:00 pm
of caracas to the battlefields around also i would drop just to get to the truth and empower people through knowledge. al-jazeera. you're watching the news hour live from the headquarters and. these are live pictures from capitol hill in washington d.c. where both houses of congress are holding a joint session to confirm joe biden's presidential when there is unprecedented interest this time in what's usually just a formality and that's because donald trump's allies in congress plan to dispute the election results forcing a long debate 13 republican senators and about 140 house republicans are said
9:01 pm
they'll object to these sorts of occasion but that's just the minority in both chambers and that is the vice president's mike pence just walking into the chamber right now mike pence himself facing close scrutiny as he presides over the session now pens does have a largely ceremonial role opening the sealed envelopes from the states and reading the results aloud but he's under growing pressure from trump to tip it for the president despite having no power to affect the outcome well here's what trump had said in the past hour listen. and i hope mike is going to do the right thing and i hope so. because it does the right thing we win the election all vice president purchased to do is send it back to the states to recertify and we become president and you are that have to use. so that's what donald trump
9:02 pm
was saying a defining and donald trump really he was addressing supporters at a so-called save america rally saying he will never concede the election thousands in washington d.c. back the u.s. president's unproven claims that november poll was raked national guard troops have been deployed in the city at the mayor's request all of us here today do not want to see our election victory stolen by a bold and radical left democrats which is what they're doing and stolen by the fake to speed that's what they've done and what they're doing we will never give up we will never concede it doesn't happen you don't see that. so for more on the approach from protest let's bring in john hendren he's joining us from just outside washington d.c. so the president rallying his supporters ahead of that congressional vote counts about to start any minute now john what is the mood like there. well the mood here is defining and enthusiasm you've got thousands and thousands of
9:03 pm
people who come to washington for this event most of these people are not locals the hotels are filled. and they're here to stand against the certification of those votes they are convinced by and large the people that we've talked to that the president is right that there has been widespread 'd voter fraud and so that's why they've gathered on a cold day in washington in january to stand outside here to listen to the president's speech now i believe gone on for over an hour and then many of them are walking down toward capitol hill because they want to standing outside of the capitol as this certification process is taking place but they believe by and large that there has been widespread voter fraud despite the fact that all of the trump lawsuits more than 50 of the new book around now and so the center area of town is closed you've got. federal police out here so far in
9:04 pm
a very peaceful protest and everybody simply listening to the president defiant and insisting that that vote should not be certified they think he has won it's an extraordinary moment in american history where you've got a president exhorting thousands of people not to put their faith in an election that has already been decided. all right john we'll let you go for now thank you very much for giving us that update from just outside the white house let's bring in shihab rattansi now he's joining us from outside the white house from another part and shihab you know trump was speaking just a short while ago and once again pressuring his vice president to reject the results now just talk us through the significance of that and is there any precedence for u.s. president pressuring his vice president in that way. now that we know of all the trump of ob's us everything on his sleeve who knows what presidents have said in
9:05 pm
the past but certainly there's been no sense i mean when vice presidents have have presided over this ceremonial ceremonial joint session of congress in the past it has gone as the framers have intended and just in the last few minutes mike pence has released a statement and he's released a statement that he has apparently sent to all members of congress now just just before he said i should mention don't trump right now is peppering a speech in which he's going through what he claims are all the instances of forward in the presidential election and even in the georgia senate runoff and then peppering that with exhortations to mike pence to reject the certified electorate college votes when he presides over this joint session in fact he at one point he led to a child or charles erupted in the crowd of send some of them back or something like that talking about you know shouting out to mike pence to send the electoral
9:06 pm
college votes back to the states for research if occasion something he cannot do under the constitution in a big part of my earth of donald trump's speech right now has been a rather rueful look back on all the politicians that he claims to good to have made the careers of and who have now betrayed him and then he gets on to mike pence and then he says i'll be very disappointed if mike pence now doesn't do what i'm telling him to do which is not to certify the vote so this is an amazing moment for my presence is a man who has stood by donald trump for 4 years and i say i'm left so i listen to what mike pence places at the clerk's desk without objection tell us will dispense with the reading of the formal portions of the certificates after ascertaining the certificates are regular in form and. tellers will announce the votes cast by the electors for each state beginning with alabama which the parliamentarians advise me
9:07 pm
is the only certificate of vote from that state to be returned from the state that is annexed to us attempted from an authority of that state reporting tool point or ascertain electors. all right so you have just let me bring you back in we were just listening to the vice president mike pence who is now the presiding officer of the in session of congress taking place right now and he's effectively called it into a corner see how you actually get there we expect the 1st objection to come relatively rapidly with arizona it's an algorithm in alphabetical roll call of states and we know some of ted cruz i'm a member of the house and he's one member of the house will object to arizona but this is the statement that mike pence just just released ahead of the session he says that he will give. the concerns a fair hearing but he but he also says our founders were deeply skeptical of
9:08 pm
concentrations of power and created a republic based on separation of powers vesting the vice president with the unit out of thorough t. to decide presidential contests would be totally antithetical to that desire he says he's heard the arguments that donald trump have been making that others have been making that somehow he has this power to reject certified and that so college votes he does not believe he has that power from what dylan trouble's been saying i'm on the ellipse just a few a distance for away from me he is going to be disappointed in mike pence mike pence saying he will not stand in the way of the certification he will do his constitutional duty and not not have some sort of duty to the presidency that donald trump is claiming mike pence should follow to instead. thank you very much for the time being let's continue the conversation she's joining us from capitol hill so patty looks like we are expecting some drama to what is usually usually
9:09 pm
a very standard affair. exactly usually this minutes maybe an hour now it's expected it could go to the morning hours here on capitol hill it looks like right now like there's a member of the house that's trying to open it up for debate we've just seen the vice president say debate in a joint session is not allowed so we're going to be watching to see exactly how this plays out it is you had mentioned we should see it pretty early because what they do yours they basically bring in these boxes with these these have been certified by the secretary of state by governors of all the 50 states and they're sent them here to the capitol and normally what would happen is the vice president would just simply open it up as somebody to tell them they would be accepted to go by alphabetical order of the states so we believe by the time they get to arizona going to object then what happens then these joint session dissolves you see the senators stay in their chamber house of representatives go to their chamber thank
9:10 pm
you nobody up for up to 2 hours of debate then they're going to vote the vote in the age heard of hours takes a really long time because they basically have heard about its charter calls people voting. and then what will happen is they'll vote and it doesn't seem like they have the votes to actually change the election outcome they'll vote certified the electors arizona for joe biden and then they'll move on and we don't know how many objections we're going to see we're hearing maybe 3 maybe all 6 spent. but in the end all the experts expect that this is just going to drag the process in the end it will actually change the outcome joe biden will be the next president of the united states so patty it seems like this is kind of a tactic that is merely delaying the inevitable. for the republicans and we heard the president while he was speaking at a rally just outside the white house addressing them in particular calling them weak how are they looking going into all of this. well we've seen
9:11 pm
a couple of republican senators getting heckled by trump supporters and here's the question is donald trump the face of the future of the republican party he said in the message to these republican senators and house members that he is and what he's saying is stick with me now or you'll be out of a job the next time you're up for reelection is he going to be able to do that we don't know we don't know what general terms future is other than he'll have to find a new place to live after january 20th because let's keep in mind although he is hugely popular among the base and he did get more than 7000000 votes thousands of people coming to the capitol to stand with him. the question is what does his future hold we know he's potentially facing legal liability we know that he's got millions hundreds of millions of dollars in loans coming in and a depressed economy with his assets worth a lot less than the used to be so is he going to still command the republican party that is the message he is sending to these are companies in
9:12 pm
a last ditch effort saying you want to keep your job stand with me now but we're seeing the majority of republicans in the senate say no that's not how this works joe biden will be the next president and patty just remind us once again how this process is usually played out and how long do we expect it to last this time around it's half. you know it's so if you think about if they challenge all 6 states and each takes let's say 2 to 3 hours it's going to be a really early morning and perhaps even tomorrow when they get around to finally certified what normally happens is they just it's like a 20 minute process they just count the electors the vice president stands up and says this is how many joe biden got this is how many donald trump got joe biden is the next president and the thing is it's happened throughout our history we have it we've seen some objections in recent history but never in this kind of numbers we've never seen thousands of people descend on the capitol to send
9:13 pm
a message to these lawmakers just to give you a sense security is insanely tight at the capitol nobody can get in here without credentials the police are everywhere the national guard has been called in so what's happening now on the floors you see senator amy klobuchar to speak what we're going to see is they're going to go through this process however long it takes the end of the day joe biden will be the next president of the united states all right thank you very much crossover live into the chamber right now to listen to the vice president's let's listen in. objection to counting the lector your vote of the state of arizona we a member of the house of representatives and a united states senator object to the counting of the electorial vote of the state
9:14 pm
of arizona on the grounds that they were not under all of the known circumstances regularly given. are there further objections to the ship because from the state of arizona. the chair here is not. the 2 houses will withdraw from joint session each else will deliberate separately on the pending objection and report his decision back to the joint session the senate will now retire to its chambers. all right so there it is objection raised on the state of arizona i'll bring you back in just mean this was expected in particular when it comes to the state of arizona. it was and we're expecting definitely with the challenger with arizona then we'll probably get all the way to pennsylvania in this medical order and the
9:15 pm
other one other challenge that we expected now will be in georgia so we'll get to georgia gets pennsylvania the question is are they going to do michigan wisconsin so we don't exactly know how this plays out and we have a pretty good idea of how this is going to end now we've heard some of the most loyal supporters of the u.s. senate in the conservative side say this would be this would end american democracy if they were to in fact do what the president says which is to to send it back to the states to recertify he seemed to indicate he wanted another election i think it's important to step back and remember they're calling for an emergency if there's nothing in the constitution that says that they can do that we've seen almost 60 lawsuits they've never been able to actually prove in most cases even a cert because it's illegal to lie to a judge there was actual fraud there is no widespread election fraud in this country the president didn't have the election stolen from him he lost the election
9:16 pm
so that something his supporters obviously are having a hard time coming to terms with it is loyalists on the hill are going to continue to send the message that they stand with the other the majority of them say they stand with the constitution all right patty thank you very much for that update from capitol hill let's take all of this on with alexander k. star who's a professor of history and social policy at harvard kennedy school he's joining us via skype from stowe that's over in vermont thanks very much for for your time with us let's just look at what's happened just a moment ago and the lawmakers have challenge the arizona electoral college results which was largely expected and now we understand that each chamber will debate the objection before voting on whether to accept or it's a rejected so what do you think is going to happen there. i think that that was going to happen is what your reporters are predicting what happened there will be a debate it will be more or less. vitriolic that i can't predict but at the end of
9:17 pm
the debate each chamber will vote not to accept the objection and then they will after of due voting they will then come back at the joint session and report that to the chair and the objection of will not be accepted and then arizona's electoral votes will be except how unprecedented is all of this that's taking place today we know that in the past challenges have been made but not really in this way and with these kind of numbers or exactly the challenges that have been raised in recent history in 20045 or 201617 were symbolic they were there there was no intent that they would succeed they were the symbolic raising of particular issues in particular concerns in this instance they are coming. you know at the end of a concerted effort because certain widespread efforts to over
9:18 pm
a term the results of the elections that were held in the states that's something that's something very very different and here's the thing i mean all eyes have had been on the vice president mike pence up until this point and he has released a statement saying what appears to be that he's kind of defied the president saying that he can't claim unilateral authority to reject the electoral votes that will make biden president and we know that president trump had been putting the pressure on his vice president to do so i mean if and when. pence the clarence buy it in the winter what are the political implications for pence in south. well my my hunch is that pence will then become the whipping boy or a whipping boy for trump and for many of his most adamant conservative backers they will say he could have made it come out differently he did not protect the
9:19 pm
president the vice president is absolutely correct that he has absolutely no authority to. go to it to even interpreted his judgment in this process it took him a long time to make that announcement he only made it about a half hour ago and it was quite evident to many people for a very long time but i think that. some people may regard trump is a minor hero i'm not sure that's going to happen but i think he will be calm and that's the mode to the troubled base here but the thing is how might this affect his place among republicans and his own a potential ambitions for a future run in the white house i suspect it would damage perceptions but i think that the answer to that question is going to be dependent on what happens with the republican party over the next 2 weeks and months on a couple of years is the party going to split apart will there be splinter groups
9:20 pm
that will leave will they have some full blown debate about trump ism and about their conduct in this election we don't know the answers that are i don't know the answer to that and i think that that tends just fate will depend on on on how those debates are resolved i mean i know you say you don't know the answers to that and i do respect that but just how much damage do you think all of this has done to the republican party. i think it has done considerable damage to the republican party and if as is predicted the republican party remains in the aims of trump and his new norm a slush fund and his most adamant supporters i think that you will see a lot of people peeling away from the party or trying to create a new call close eye for the you know the republican what's clear is that the republican party in in terms of national elections national presidential elections
9:21 pm
has been unable as for the very difficult to win a presidential election in the last several decades and it will that will become will the more so. that said i don't think the republican party is going to disappear and we have to remember that. 74000000 people did vote for the trauma after seeing his behavior in office for 4 years all right so we'll leave it there alexandra case are we thank you very much for speaking to us from vermont it's. and we'll take you back into the u.s. house of congress where the speaker of the house nancy pelosi is speaking let's listen in for a moment to senate can carry resolution one. percent to senate concurrent resolution one and section 17 up title 3 can raise of the us the united states code one that you have says withdraw from the joint session to count the electoral vote for separate consideration of an objection a representative may speak to the objection for 5 minutes and not more than one
9:22 pm
debate shall not exceed 2 hours after which the sharable put in the question shell the objection be agreed to the clerk will report the objection made and the joint session. objection to counting the electoral votes of the state of arizona we the member of the house of representatives and a united states senator object to the counting of the electoral votes of the state of arizona on the ground that they were that they were not under all of the known circumstances regularly given signed paul goes our representative state of arizona ted cruz senator state of texas. the chair will endeavor to alternate recognition between members seeking support of the objection and member seeking opposition to the objection the chair represents recognizes the gentleman from louisiana mr stickler for 5 minutes. thank you madam speaker i rise today to
9:23 pm
object to a number of states that did not follow the constitutional requirement for selecting electors madam speaker this is something that is clear that our founding fathers debated about as a fundamental decision of how we choose our president there was a lot of back and forth if anyone reads the founding documents of our country about the different versions they went through to ultimately come up with a process where each state has elections each state has a process for selecting their electors and sending them to washington and madam speaker in a number of those states that constitutional process was not followed and that's why we're here to object if you look at what the requirement says nowhere in article 2 section one does it give the secretary of state of
9:24 pm
a state that ability nowhere does it give the governor that ability nowhere does it give a court that ability it exclusively gives that ability to the legislatures and in fact in most states that's the process that was followed but for those states that this wasn't followed unfortunately this is not new we've seen over and over again more states where the democrat party has gone in and selectively gone around this process that has to and madam speaker we have to follow the constitutional process i am not there might be reasons why some people don't like the process laid out by a legislative body. madam speaker i served on one of those legislative bodies when i was in the state legislature for 12 years i served on the house and governmental affairs committee where we wrote the laws for our state's elections and i could
9:25 pm
tell you when we had to make changes those were extensively negotiated we would have people on both sides come republicans and democrats madam speaker would get together to work through those changes in any minute change to how a precinct would function to how a change would be made in the time of an election signature requirements all the many things that involve a clerk carrying out the duties in each parish in our case you would see people come and give testimony madam speaker both sides could come clerks of court were there in the hearing rooms it was an open process by the way not behind closed doors in a smoke filled room where somebody might want to bully a secretary of state to get a different version that might benefit them or their party or their candidate that's not what our founding father said is the process maybe it's how some people wanted to carry it out but they lay it out that process and so when we would have
9:26 pm
to make those changes they were in public view they were heavily debated and then ultimately those laws were changed in advance of the election so everybody knew what the rules were people on both sides knew how to play the rules before the game started not getting somewhere in the process and saying well you don't think it's going to benefit you so you try to go around the constitution that's not how our system works it's gotten out of hand and so president trump has called this out and president trumpet stood up to it so many of us have stood up to it and it fact. over 100 of my colleagues madam speaker asked the supreme court to address this problem just a few weeks ago and unfortunately the court chose to punt they didn't answer one way or the other they didn't want to get in the middle of this discussion we don't have that luxury today we have to discuss this we have to fix this in fact
9:27 pm
on our 1st full day of this congress many of us brought legislation onto the house floor to start fixing the problems with our elections to restore integrity to the election process which has been lost by so many millions of americans and we had a vote every single republican voted to reform the process every single democrat voted against it they don't want to fix this problem but the constitution is our guide. and it's time we start following the constitution it's time we get back to what our founding father said is the process for selecting electors that's the legislatures and public view not behind closed doors don't smoke filled rooms not bullying somebody that might give you a better rolling let's get back to rule of law and follow the constitution madam speaker and i yield back the balance of my god and time it took to
9:28 pm
a. dark exactly one and can. carry through to me. for what purpose does the chance a woman from california seek recognition by the last who are there to action gentleman is recognized for man to being a man to speaker this day marks a crossroads for american democracy those who object to the counting of the electoral college votes which reflect the votes of the american people want to set want to substitute their preferences for the voters' choice that's not what our constitution requires and it's at odds with the american democratic republic and congress selects the next president instead of american voters will have no need for an electoral college in fact we have no need for presidential elections at all we'd be moving from a government elected by the people to
9:29 pm
a government selected by those already governing that's not america in the united states we abide by the choices of the people modern elite few the framers of our constitution you considered whether to have congress select the president and specifically rejected it instead they wrote article 2 and the 12th amendment in article 2 creates the electoral college where each state appoints electors laws of all 50 states and d.c. require a lectors that vote for the winner of the state's popular election each state provide. as for the orderly conduct of elections including lawful challenges we count and the like the 12th amendment is what brings us today it says the electors meet in their states that happen december 14th the amendment says the electors shall cast their votes sign and certify them trance met them to a seal that's been done the sealed envelopes containing the signed certified ballots from each state's electors reflecting the votes of the people where in those mahogany boxes the 12th amendment directs the president and the vice
9:30 pm
president is the president senate to do only this open the sealed envelopes and then the vote shall be counted simple it doesn't say counted in a manner that some members of congress or the vice president might prefer to know the votes are simply to be counted as certified and transmitted by the states during reconstruction after the civil war more than one state of electors were appointed by states dueling lists were sent in protracted process seas were undertaken in presidential elections and as a result to make an orderly process congress enacted the electoral count act of 887 this law governs our proceedings today the act provides dispute resolution mechanisms under the e.c.a. if the governor certifies a slate of electors and there are no competing slates from that state the governor's certified slate must be counted today every single slate of electors one by joe biden or one by donald trump got their governor's certification not
9:31 pm
a single state submitted a competing slate there's no dispute to resolve that 2020 was the most secure election conducted in modern history chalons were resolved by lawful recounts and audit the result by his president biden won the 2020 election more than 60 lawsuits were filed contesting elements of the election process none of these lawsuits prevailed why as even president trump's own judicial appointees. ruled there was no evidence of any wrongdoing that would change the outcome the people spoke it was not a close election the margin of victory for biden and 2020 was larger than trump's margin in 2016 in fact the biden victory is one of the most decisive in modern times exceeding the margin enjoyed by reagan when he defeated carter in 1980 congress has gathered in joint session to catalectic all votes every 4 years since
9:32 pm
789 i understand the disappointment people feel when their candidate for president loses i've felt the same several times in my voting life when that happens it's not an invitation to up and the constitution and the laws of the united states it's an invitation to work with the new president for the good of the country and to wait for the next election in 4 years if you're dissatisfied in that spirit i urge my colleagues to uphold the american democracy and reject the objection and i yield back the balance of my time. and now we take it to the senate to listen to what mitch mcconnell has to say but over and over. the courts rejected these claims including all star judges and the president himself has nominated every election we know features some
9:33 pm
illegality and irregularity and of course that's unacceptable support strong state led voting reforms last year's bizarre pandemic procedures must not become the new norm but my colleagues nothing before us cruise illegality anywhere near the massive scale the massive scale that would have kicked in tar election no ark and public doubt alone. justify a radical break when the doubt itself was inside and without any evidence the constitution gives us here in congress a limited role we cannot simply declare ourselves
9:34 pm
a national board of elections on steroids the voters the courts and the stage of all spoke of all spoken if we over rule them it would damage our republic forever this election actually was not unusually close just in recent history 976-2000. and $24.00 were all closer than those on the electoral card and college margin.
9:35 pm
is almost identical to what it was and 2016 this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side our democracy would enter a death spiral we'd never see the whole nation except an election again every 4 years would be a scramble for power. at any cost the electoral college which most of us on this out have been defending for years would cease to exist leaving many of our states. with no real say at all in choosing a president the effects would go even beyond elections
9:36 pm
themselves self government my colleagues requires a shared commitment to the truth. and a shared respect for the ground rules of our system we cannot keep drifting apart into 2 separate tribes with a separate set of facts and separate realities. with nothing in common except our hostility towards each other and mistrust for the feud national institutions that we all still share every time every time in the last 30 years that democrats have lost the presidential race they've tried to challenge just like this after
9:37 pm
2000 after 24 after 2016 after 24 a senator joined and forced the same debate and believe it or not democrats like harry reid dick durbin and hillary clinton praised praised them and applauded the stunt republicans condemned those baseless efforts back then we just spent 4 years condemning democrats shameful attacks on the validity of president's runs on election so look there can be no double standard the media that is outraged today spent 4 years aiding and abetting democrats attacks on our institutions after they lost but we must not imitate and escalate what we
9:38 pm
repudiate our duty is to govern for the public good united states senate has a higher calling than an endless spiral of partisan vengeance congress will either override the voters overrule them the voters the states and the courts for the 1st time ever or honor the people's decision will either guarantee democrats did legitimizing efforts after 26 day and become up permanent new routine for both sides or declare that our nation deserves a lot better than the us will lead our haitian down a poisonous path where only the wonders of election actually accept the results
9:39 pm
or show we can still muster the patriotic courage that our forebears showed. not only in victory but into fate frommer's built the senate to stop short term passions from boiling over and melting the foundations of our republic so i believe protecting our constitutional order requires respecting the limits of our own power it would be unfair and wrong traditions raj disenfranchise american voters and overrule the courts and the states on this extraordinarily fan basis and i would not pretend such a vote would be a harmless protest just here while relying on others to do
9:40 pm
the right thing i will vote to respect the people's decision and defend our system of government as we know it. dick leader so that is the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell he was just making his opening remarks during the senate debate on arizona as electoral results and effectively dismissing trump's challenge to biden's when. will continue with the life picture and let's listen in to chuck schumer's for tellers appointed on a bipartisan basis by the 2 houses to read to the congress the results of an election that has already happened we are here to receive an announcement of a vote that has already been certified by every state in the union and confirmed
9:41 pm
by the courts many times many times over we are here to watch the current vice president open envelopes and receive the news of the verdict that has already been rendered it is a solemn and gust occasion no doubt but it is a formality. the congress does not determine the outcome of elections the people do the congress is not endowed with the power to administer elections our states are given that power by the end of the proceedings today it will be confirmed once again something that is well known and well settled the american people elected joe biden and camila harris to be the next president and vice president of the united states and yet
9:42 pm
a number of our colleagues have organized an effort to undermine an object to that free and fair election they are in the minority they will lose they know that they have no evidence of widespread voter fraud upon which to base their objections that's because there is none there is none not brought before any of the courts successfully they know that president trump and his allies have suffered the defeat of defeat in court in court after 'd court across the country losing no fewer than 62 legal challenges and i might add many republican appointed judges some appointed by president trump rendered those decisions they know you all know that joe biden and camila heris are going to be sworn in as president and vice
9:43 pm
president of the united states on january 20th but they are going to object to the counting of the vote anyway and in the process they will embarrass themselves they will embarrass their party and worst of all they will embarrass their country this insurrection was fortunately discouraged by the leadership of the majority party. but it was not quelled it is a very sad comment on our times that merely the accepting the results of an election is considered an act of political courage sadder and more dangerous still is the fact that an element of the republican party believes their political viability hinges on the endorsement of an attempted coup
9:44 pm
that anyone much less an elected official would be willing to tarnish our democracy in order to burnish their personal political fortunes over the course of the afternoon and however far into the evening this band of republican objectors wants to take us senators of goodwill from both sides of the aisle will explain why these challenges must be dismissed the senators from states whose electoral votes are being challenged will explain how the allegations of fraud are baseless and a substantial bipartisan majority must vote to put down these objections and defend the sanctity of our elections and indeed and indeed our great and grand democracy because of vats what we're talking about today
9:45 pm
the health of our democracy this wonderful beautiful grand democracy where the peaceful passing of the torch is extolled by schoolchildren in the 2nd grade but not by some here as we speak half of our voters are being conditioned by the outgoing president to believe that when his party loses an election the results must not be legitimate as we speak the eyes of the world around this chamber questioning whether america is still the shining example of democracy the shining city on the hill what message we send today. what message will we send today to our people
9:46 pm
to the world that has so looked up to us for centuries what message will we send to fledgling democracies who study our constitution mirror our laws and traditions in the hopes that they too can build a country ruled by the consent of the governed what message will we send to those countries where democratic values are under assault and look to us to see if those values are still worth fighting for what message will we send to every dark corner of the world where human rights are betrayed elections are stolen him and dignity denied what will we show those people will we show those people that there is a better way to ensure liberty and opportunity of human kind
9:47 pm
sadly a small band of republican objectors may darken the view of our democracy today but a larger group of senators and house members from both sides of the aisle can send a message to the democracy that democracy beats deep in the hearts of our citizens and our elected representatives that we are a country of laws in of not men that our traditions are not so easily discarded even by our president that facts matter that truth matters that while democracy allows free speech and free expression even if that expression is anti-democratic there will always always be praise god a far broader and stronger coalition ready to push back and defend everything we hold dear we can send that message today by voting in large in overwhelming
9:48 pm
numbers to defeat these objections my colleagues. we each swore an oath just 3 days ago that we would defend and support the constitution of the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic that we would bear for true faith and allegiance to the same we swore that we took this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that we could well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office we were about to enter so help us god the precise words of that oath were shortly written after the civil war when the idea of true faith in allegiance to this country and its constitution took on enormous meaning let those words
9:49 pm
let those words ring in the ears of every senator today let us do our duty it's a sport to support and defend the constitution of the united states so help us god. so that was the senate minority leader chuck schumer addressing the objection to the arizona vote count and what you're looking at right now what you've been seeing over the past few minutes as lawmakers are basically in both the house and the senate and there are debating. the electoral votes some particular for arizona right now let's let's cross back and listen to ted cruz moralizing from both sides of the aisle but i would urge to both sides perhaps a bit less certitude and
9:50 pm
a bit more recognition that we are gathered at a time when democracy is in crisis recent polling shows that 39 percent of americans believe the election that just occurred quote was rigged. you may not agree with that assessment but it is nonetheless a reality for nearly half the country i would note it is not just republicans who believe that 31 percent of independents agree with that statement 17 percent of democrats believe the election was rigged even if you do not share that conviction it is the responsibility i believe of this office to acknowledge that is a profound threat to this country and to the legitimacy of any administrations that
9:51 pm
will come in the future i want to take a moment to speak to my democratic colleagues i understand your guy is winning right now if democrats vote as a block joe biden will almost certainly be certified as the next president the united states i want to speak to the republicans who are considering voting against these objections i understand your concerns but i urge you to pause and think what does that say to the nearly half the country that believes this election was rigged if we vote not even to consider the claims of illegality and fraud in this election and i believe there's a better way the leaders just spoke about setting aside the election let me big be clear i am not arguing for setting aside the results of this election all of us are
9:52 pm
faced with 2 choices both of which are lousy one choices vote against the objection and tens of millions of americans will see a vote against the objection as a statement that voter fraud doesn't matter isn't real and shouldn't be taken seriously and a great many of us don't believe that on the other hand most if not all of us believe we should not set aside the results of an election just because our candidate may not have prevailed. and so i endeavored to look for door number 3 a 3rd option and for that i look to history to the precedent of the 876 election the hayes tilden election where this congress appointed an electoral commission to examine claims of voter fraud 5 house members 5 senators 5 supreme court justices examined the evidence and rendered a judgment and what i would urge of this body is that we do the same that we appointed electoral commission to conduct
9:53 pm
a 10 day emergency audit consider the evidence and resolve the claims for those on the democratic aisle who says say there is no evidence they've been rejected then you should rest and comfort if that's the case an electoral commission would reject those claims but for those who respect the voters simply telling the voters go jump in a lake the fact that you have deep concerns is of no moment to us that jeopardizes i believe the legitimacy of this and subsequent elections the constitution gives to congress the responsibility of this day to count the votes the framers knew what they were doing when they gave responsibilities to congress we have a responsibility and i would urge that we follow the precedent of 877 electoral count act explicitly allows objection such as this one for votes that
9:54 pm
were not regularly given and let me be clear this objection is for the state of arizona but it is broader than that it is an objection for all 6 of the contested states to have a credible objective impartial body hear the evidence and make a conclusive determination that would benefit both sides that would improve legitimacy of this election and so let me or my colleagues. all of us take our responsibilities seriously i would urge my colleagues don't take perhaps the easy path but instead act together us ston ish the viewers and act in a bipartisan sense to say we will have a credible and fair tribunals consider the claims consider the facts consider the evidence and make a conclusive determination whether and to what extent this election complied with
9:55 pm
the constitution and with federal law. all right so that was senator ted cruz he was registering his objection to the arizona at electoral vote count let's bring in the shihab rattansi as she has joining us from just outside the white house just you know we just heard from ted cruz and chuck schumer as well and mitch mcconnell just give us then the major points in the messages these men were sending out. before i do so i feel i should also bring you up to date with what's been happening outside. of washington while all of this has been happening that have been several evacuations of buildings on capitol hill the account of the house building and the madison building of the library of congress these are old buildings around the big dome of capitol hill the you always see i think that the evacuation of counting house
9:56 pm
building is now over and also reports of people in residences around been asked to evacuate that was from about half an hour ago but clearly a really tense situation as protesters were already gathering only capitol hill but also the protesters who were outside the white house at their lips also started moving too that way and were definitely we definitely saw some very tense moments as protesters attempted to breach barricades outside capitol hill and pepper spray was used by police things seem to calm down for the moment although it's difficult to tell from here but i'm just looking at all the different feeds the have on offer but there was there was some really rather fraught scenes outside capitol hill outside congress just just about in the last 20 minutes while all of these speeches about democracy and i the up holding and up hold in the constitution and the democratic will of the people were being made by both sides in the argument ted cruz that as usual making his point was just sort of like hey i'm not saying that
9:57 pm
was fraud but that's how an electoral commission that will look into these allegations of fraud trying to have it always in some ways even though clearly all of these charges that we're seeing presented have been litigated sometimes multiple times both in the courts and in through election authorities at the state level then you have mitch mcconnell mitch mcconnell giving an impassioned speech about the possibility of a death spiral for democracy and about everything getting to tribal i mean some rather write commentary about that given how he has backed up the whole trouble the way for the right for years yeah these debates will continue no and will continue to see how i apologize but we are coming to the top of the hour we are going to say . a very short break right here on al-jazeera you're looking at the live picture from just outside the white house where protesters are there they are marching as the senate debates objections to right now the arizona vote counts as well as other states so thanks for watching the news hour on al jazeera will hand you over to our colleagues in london barbara starr is with you in just
9:58 pm
a moment she'll be picking up our developing news coverage thanks for watching but i. discovered kazakstan as a new strategic location at the crossroads of europe and asia. develop and grow your business. in the leading logistics trade business harbor. in 1st in a country with a great business climate robust legal system tax regime and advantageous investment incentives employ
9:59 pm
a well educated highly skilled and multi-lingual workforce. by investing in kazakstan you invest in the largest economy of the region where the growth and prosperity of your business will always be our key priority. invest in kazakstan seize the best opportunities in the heart of eurasia. the hillbilly a harmless caricature or a malicious label denying a people their culture to justify the exploitation of their natural resources that dividing hunger thing has been so successful that even people in the region believe the stereotype then becomes dangerous it's only a region of trash so. why not trash it what's in a name hillbilly but witness documentary on al-jazeera. the generations nobody could is a broad mongolia's clients because recent stream weather is killing their stock
10:00 pm
forcing some to abandon tradition to. one of these 2 best tickets on how to 0. a band of donald trump's republican allies that launch a last ditch effort in congress to overturn his election loss to joe biden if by chance does the right thing we win the election while tom keeps up the pressure on his vice president to stop the results being certified this as the democrats look poised to take control of congress with one candidate winning and another leading in georgia's crucial senate race.

77 Views

info Stream Only

Uploaded by TV Archive on