Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) is revealing what his fellow Congressional Republicans are saying in private about President Donald Trump’s baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud.
In a lengthy Facebook post on Wednesday night, Sasse explained why he would not join Republican lawmakers’ effort to disqualify the electoral votes in states that Trump lost.
While he clarified that he is not stating there was absolutely no fraud in the election, he said the irregularities that occurred are nowhere near widespread enough to call into question the legitimacy of the election.
“We have little evidence of fraud, and what evidence we do have does not come anywhere close to adding up to a different winner of the presidential election,” he wrote.
He also linked to an article written by columnist Andrew McCarthy, a Trump supporter, who debunked Trump’s allegations of widespread voter fraud.
Additionally, while he said he believes claims of election fraud should be investigated. He decried what he said is a “destructive, vicious circle.”
“Step 1: Allege widespread voter fraud. Step 2: Fail to offer specific evidence of widespread fraud. Step 3: Demand investigation, on grounds that there are ‘allegations’ of voter fraud.”
Sasse then turned to whether his Republican colleagues actually disagree with him, “When we talk in private, I haven’t heard a single Congressional Republican allege that the election results were fraudulent – not one.”
“Instead, I hear them talk about their worries about how they will ‘look’ to President Trump’s most ardent supporters,” he added.
He went on to say that he understands why people distrust news stories about Trump:
“As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who has watched for four years as lies made up out of whole cloth are covered as legitimate ‘news’ stories, I understand why so many of my constituents feel this in-the-belly distrust. What so much of the media doesn’t grasp is that Trump’s attacks are powerful not because he created this anti-media sentiment, but because he figured out how to tap into it.”
He added, “Nonetheless, it seems to me that the best way we can serve our constituents is to tell the truth as we see it, and explain why. And in my view, President-Elect Biden didn’t simply win the election; President Trump couldn’t persuade even his own lawyers to argue anything different than that in U.S. federal courts.”
Sasse’s post comes after Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) became the first senator to announce his intention to sign on to the effort to disqualify electoral votes from battleground states Trump lost.
Hawley’s announcement drew criticism from several of his Republican colleagues, including Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-Va.), who claimed his decision was fueled by future presidential aspirations.