Mitch McConnell pleads with Republican senators not to go object to Electoral College votes when Congress confirms Joe Biden's victory warning it would force an 'anti-Trump' vote

Mitch McConnell warned Senate Republicans on a Tuesday call not to join colleagues in the House in challenging the Electoral College votes because the last-ditch effort to overturn the election results would split the party and ultimately fail.

The Senate majority leader pleaded with the caucus, according to Politico, to not object when Congress moves to certify the election for Joe Biden on January 6.

He said it would be a ‘terrible vote’ for Republicans because they would have to slash the attempt down, which would end up making them look anti-Trump.

McConnell’s comment to his party comes as Alabama Representative Mo Brooks is plowing forward with his promise to formally challenge the Electoral College outcome in the House.

Georgia Representative-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene, known for subscribing to some QAnon conspiracies, has said she will join Brooks in his effort to overturn the results.

The duo, however, would need at least one senator to jump on board with them to launch deliberations into the Electoral College votes. Brooks has acknowledged that the vote would likely be more of a symbolic protest that an legitimate avenue to overturn the results.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urged Republicans not to challenge the Electoral College votes when Congress moves to certify the election for Joe Biden on January 6 – claiming it would come off as an anti-Trump vote

Trump posted an article sharing Representative Mo Brooks' comments claiming 'Trump won the Electoral College.' Brooks, who represents Alabama, has said he will officially challenge the Electoral College votes when Congress moves to certify the election for Biden on January 6

Trump reposted an article including Brooks’ comments to Fox Business Tuesday claiming the president actually won in the Electoral College.

'I'm quite confident that if we only counted lawful votes cast by eligible American citizens, Donald Trump won the Electoral College, and we should not be counting illegal votes and putting in an illegitimate President of the United States,' Brooks told Fox Business and Breitbart reported – leading the president to retweet the article.

Brooks said he wouldn't be part of the GOP 'surrender caucus' by saying Biden won.

Challenges were levied, and failed, against the Electoral College results in both the 2004 and 2016 presidential elections.

Democratic House members objected to the Electoral College results of the Alabama, Florida, Michigan, Texas, Mississippi and North and South Carolina in a 2016 symbolic move of objecting to Trump’s upset victory.

No senators joined in challenging the results, meaning, ironically, that then-Vice President Joe Biden denied rejection request after rejection request. At one point he sparked Republican laughter as he said, ‘It is over.’

Some members complained about long lines at polling stations while others cited concerns over Russian attempts to influence the result in Trump’s favor.

In January 2005, Democrats also lodged a formal challenge to the electoral votes from Ohio to try and block George W. Bush from a second term.

Both chambers had at least one member challenge, forcing a two-hour long debate over the matter.

Before these instances, the last time such a challenge to the Electoral College was levied was in 1877.

Republican Senators John Thune and Roy Blunt, who also acknowledged Biden’s victory on Monday, joined McConnell in urging the GOP not to further challenge the election results.McConnell’s comments to his Republican colleagues came after he declared for the first time from the Senate floor earlier in the day that Joe Biden is president-elect.

'Yesterday electors met in all 50 states,' McConnell said from the Senate floor on Tuesday. 'So as of this morning our country has officially a president-elect and a vice president-elect.'

'Many millions of us had hoped the presidential election would yield a different result,' he continued. 'But our system of government has processes to determine who will be sworn in on January 20.

He added: 'The Electoral College has spoken. So today I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden.'

Biden confirmed to reporters that he spoke with McConnell on the phone Tuesday and thanked him for congratulating him on his remarks.

'I had a good conversation with Mitch McConnell today,' Biden said before departing for a campaign rally in Georgia for the Senate runoff elections. 'I called him to thank him for the congratulations.'

He added: 'I told him although we disagree in a lot of things, there's things we can work together on.'

Before issuing his congratulations to Biden and vice president-elect Kamala Harris – who currently serves as a Democratic senator to California – McConnell spoke for eight minutes of President Donald Trump's achievements in his four years as president.

Just minutes after McConnell's remarks, Trump issued yet another tweet lamenting of alleged 'voter fraud'.

'Tremendous evidence pouring in on voter fraud. There has never been anything like this in our Country!' he posted.

McConnell, while speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday, for the first time called Joe Biden the president-elect following the Electoral College cementing his victory on Monday. 'The Electoral College has spoken. So today I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden'

Minutes after McConnell's remarks, Trump sent a tweet lamenting of 'tremendous evidence' of alleged 'voter fraud'

McConnell also lauded during his remarks that the country would have its first ever female vice president in Senator Harris.

'I also want to congratulate the vice president-elect – our colleague from California, Senator Harris. Beyond our differences, all Americans can take pride in that our nation has a female vice president-elect for the very first time,' McConnell concluded with a smile.

The top Senate Republican on Tuesday joined a handful of other GOP lawmakers who on Monday finally acknowledged Biden won the election over Trump following the electors casting their votes.

'I understand there are people who feel strongly about the outcome of this election,' the second ranking Senate Republican John Thune of South Dakota said on Monday, according to Politico.

'But in the end at some point you have to face the music. And I think that once the Electoral College settles the issue today, it's time for everybody to move on,' the Senate Majority Whip continued.

Electors officially cast their votes for their respective states for president on Monday, cementing Biden's victory with 306 Electoral College votes to Trump's 232.

Hours after the vote, Trump took to Twitter Tuesday morning to revive claims of election fraud and call for Georgia officials who refused to heed his demands to overturn the vote to be jailed.

The president retweeted a photo-shopped image of Georgia's Republican Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Rathensperger wearing obviously-fake masks with the the Chinese flag on it.

Lawyer Lin Wood, who filed Trump-backing lawsuits that have been snubbed in court, tagged the two men and wrote that Trump gave them 'every chance to get it right.'

'They will soon be going to jail,' he added, in the tweet the president posted.

Both Republican officials, who have voiced support for the president in the past, refused to go along with Trump's demands to compare ballot signatures to envelopes long after the initial vote, a hand recount and later certification.

His attack comes as Biden heads to Georgia to back the two Democrats in separate Senate runoff elections, which will ultimately determine control of Congress' upper chamber.

Trump also continued to tweet conspiracy theories about voting machines flipping votes from him to Biden, even after the Supreme Court refused on Friday to hear a case filed by the Texas attorney general to throw out those votes in four swing states Trump lost.

Trump continued to tweet wild conspiracies on Monday, claiming voting machines switched votes from him to Biden

He said Michigan voting machines were wrong 68 per cent of the time

'Tremendous problems being found with voting machines. They are so far off it is ridiculous,' Trump tweeted on Tuesday. 'Able to take a landslide victory and reduce it to a tight loss. This is not what the USA is all about. Law enforcement shielding machines. DO NOT TAMPER, a crime. Much more to come!'

He also revived claims of Michigan witness Mellissa Carone, who claimed the poll books were off by 'probably' 100,000 votes. She was later revealed to be off probation after initially being charged with a computer crime, and has previously worked as a stripper.

Trump also retweeted a Twitter user, thanking him by name, and writing: 'Thanks Kevin. Many Trump votes were routed to Biden. The highly respected Michigan Judge released this epic report. True all over the Country. This Fake Election can no longer stand. Get moving Republicans. Big Swing State Win! 75,000,000 VOTES.'

Twitter flagged the claim about election fraud as 'disputed.'

Biden said, according to Bloomberg, that seven 'mostly senior' GOP lawmakers called him to congratulate him and express their willingness to work with him and his administration where possible.

In one call with 'one of the most senior members' in the Senate, Biden said they expressed 'there's a lot we can work on,' including China, the coronavirus pandemic, healthcare and infrastructure.

Not all Republican lawmakers, especially those staunch Trump allies, are as receptive to the new development, claiming there is still a 'narrow path' for a victory.

'Let's see where the remaining legal challenges go,' Senator Lindsey Graham said, admitting: 'But it's a very narrow path.'

Graham, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, said he is prepared to work with Biden where he can and support some of his nominees – including Lloyd Austin for Defense Secretary, Tony Blinken for Secretary of State and Janet Yellen to head the Treasury Department.

Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma quipped 'no' when asked if Biden is the president-elect.

Several Senate Republicans are finally acknowledging Biden's victory after the vote – and he delivered remarks Monday calling for Trump to 'respect the will of the people' after California's votes put him over the 270 threshold needed to secure the White House

Senate Majority Whip John Thune said 'it's time for everybody to move on', claiming that 'at some point you have to face the music'

Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, said, however, that he still thinks there is a 'very narrow path' for the president to overturn the results through legal channels

Montana Senator Steve Daines claims Trump has every right to 'get to the bottom' of any election discrepancies despite the electors casting their votes. He suggested it would be weeks before he refers to Biden as the president-elect.

'Every legal vote needs to be counted and every illegal vote needs to be thrown out,' Daines said. 'Montana cast three electoral votes for President Trump. We'll wait now and see if Congress will certify that in January.'

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, who chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, is still preparing to hold a hearing this week on 'irregularities' in the presidential election.

Other Republicans feel the jig is up and it's time to move on.

'There's clearly a constitutional president-elect,' Missouri Senator Roy Blunt, the fourth ranking Republican, said.

Senator Rob Portman of Ohio added: 'The Electoral College vote today makes clear that Joe Biden is now president-elect.'

Wyoming Republican Senator John Barrasso, another member of GOP leadership, acknowledged Biden's victory, claiming the Electoral College vote changed nothing considering the General Services Administration already ascertained the election for Biden – allowing the transition to commence.

'Three weeks ago, the transition occurred in terms of … access to the briefings and access to the money,' he said. 'That all occurred three weeks ago. So nothing changed. This is the Constitution and I believe in the Constitution.'

He told reporters that being asked if Biden is the 'president-elect' is just a 'gotcha question' that all Republican senators are being asked.

Before Monday, most Republicans were hesitant to refer to Biden as the 'president-elect' as Trump continues to push claims of voter fraud, lamenting the election was 'rigged' by Democrats and 'stolen' for his Democratic rival.

His campaign and Republican allies are still pursuing legal efforts nationally and at the state level to overturn the election results.

Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia said 'it's time to turn the page and begin a new administration – and Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota agreed: 'Vice President Biden is the president-elect based on the electoral count.'

Biden delivered a forceful attack on Trump's barrage of lawsuits and claims of electoral fraud – demanding in a prime-time speech Monday that the 'will of the people' be honored after his win was confirmed by the Electoral College.

The new Congress will officially certify Biden's victory on January 6 – but some Republicans are already planning a last-ditch effort to overturn the results by officially challenging the Electoral College votes. They acknowledge, however, that the move will likely act only as a symbolic protest.

Biden spoke from Wilmington, Delaware on Monday just hours after his win in the Electoral College became official when he passed the 270 Electoral Vote threshold.

Instead of taking a victory lap in the speech, however, he attempted to establish his own legitimacy while simultaneously calling out Trump's relentless effort to overturn the results.

The remarks were the former vice president's strongest attack on the sitting president since winning the election last month.

'Respecting the will of the people is at the heart of our democracy, even if we find those results hard to accept,' said Biden – alluding to Trump's refusal to concede or accept the results.

READ MITCH MCCONNELL'S FULL ACKNOWLEDGMENT THAT JOE BIDEN IS PRESIDENT-ELECT

Over the last four years our country has been benefited from a presidential term filled with major accomplishments.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly surprised the skeptics, confounded his critics and delivered significant policy victories that have strengthened our country.

Case in point, back in May when the president set the goal of finding a pandemic-ending vaccine by the end of this year, his timeline was literally dismissed by people who assumed they knew better.

Here was one quote. ‘Trump promises coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year,’ scoffed one headline, ‘but his own experts temper expectations.’

‘Factcheck,’ complained another headline, ‘coronavirus vaccine could come this year Trump says. Experts say needs a miracle to be right.’ End quote.

Well, with the genius of science, support from Congress and the bold leadership of the Trump administration, that medical miracle arrived right on schedule.

Americans on the front lines are receiving vaccinations as we speak. This episode offers a microcosm of the last four years on so many subjects from economic prosperity to foreign policy to protecting American families, the skeptics doubted him, the critics derided him, but President Trump has delivered.

When president Trump ran for office, he promised to help open a new chapter for working families.

After eight years of failed policies that concentrated wealth and optimism among the lucky few, prosperity was going to flow to all kinds of workers in all kinds of communities he said, and that's exactly what happened.

Before this pandemic spread from China and the world had to slam on the brakes, the American people had the best job market in living memory.

With the help of the policies from President Trump and Republicans in congress, American workers dynamited the stagnation that experts had said was the new normal.

Unemployment hit a 50-year low, capital markets hit record highs. At this time, all kinds of Americans got to share in the gains. We saw earnings grow faster for workers than for managers, faster for the bottom 25 per cent than for the top 25.

This success was fueled in part by the policy leadership of President Trump.

This administration pursued bold regulatory changes. Once in a generation tax reform had eluded prior leaders. This president signed it into law in his first year.

Together we repealed the unfair Obamacare, the mandate was zeroed out.

He strengthened the future of the trade with the world. He secured the historic Mexico-Canada Agreement and the bilateral tax treaties with partners in Europe and in Asia. A nation this productive needs plenty of energy to keep it going. Fortunately president Trump and his administration ended the ideological war on fossil fuels and hit the accelerator on all of the above energy dominance.

In the last four years we suppressed Saudi Arabia in, surpassed Saudi Arabia in oil production.

We saw energy exports exceed energy imports for the first year in almost 70 years.

We saw CO2 emissions fall along with other harmful pollutants. That energy independence has dramatically strengthened our hand with respect to the rest of the world, particularly the Middle East.

So speaking of the Middle East, President Trump wasted little time pulling back from the prior administration's disastrous Iran deal.

His team eliminated daylight between us and Israel and repaired our relationships with Arab partners. And he aligned these relationships around our common shared interests, countering threats like radical Islamic terrorists and Iranian aggression.

Under President Trump's command, our forces took terrorist leaders like al-Baghdadi and Qasem Soleimani off the battlefield.

The previous caliphate on the previous president's watch.

This led to the Abraham Accords that included U.A.E., Bahrain, Sudan and most recently Morocco and the potential is there for more on the horizon.

Now the Middle East isn't the only place where the Trump administration has shored up our footing on the world stage.

Our 45th commander in chief set out to rebuild and modernize our military from a chapter of weakness and apology into a renewed posture of strength. Four years later we have a new national defense strategy to compete with and deter adversaries like Russia and China, we have rebuilt the military and invested in new technologies to ensure that America keeps our edge in everything from cyber to space to advanced weapons systems.

And the president's leadership has not stopped with those who are currently serving.

He signed into law the historic V.A. Mission act to ensure our dedication to the men and women in uniform does not end when their tours conclude. Clearly, Madam President, the list of American accomplishments since 2016 is nearly endless.

There are the many miles of new protections on our southern border. At one time our apprehensions at the border hit the lowest levels since the 1970s.

Essential causes like religious liberty and the unborn have had a champion in this administration instead of an adversary. There have been historic new steps to conserve our national treasures like the great American outdoors act.

And perhaps most important of all, president Trump nominated and this Senate confirmed three outstanding Supreme Court justices along with more than 220 more Article 3 federal judges.

These are brilliant young constitutionalists, men and women in life-time appointments who will renew the judiciary for a generation all because President Trump knows that we need judges that will fit the third branch of government.

So, as you can see, Madam president, it will take far more than one speech to catalog all the major wins that the Trump administration has helped to deliver for the American people.

The outsider who swore he was shake up Washington and lead our country to new accomplishments both at home and abroad proceeded to do exactly that.

President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence deserve our thanks and our gratitude for their tireless work and their essential roles in all of these victories and in many more.

Six weeks ago, Americans voted in this year's general election. The legal and constitutional process has continued to play out since then.

Yesterday electors met in all 50 states so as of this morning our country has officially a president-elect and a vice president-elect.

Many of us hoped that the presidential election would yield a different result, but our system of government has processes to determine who will be sworn in on January 20.

The Electoral College has spoken.

So today I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden. The president-elect is no stranger to the Senate. He's devoted himself to public service for many years.

I also want to congratulate the Vice President-elect, our colleague from California, Senator Harris.

Beyond our differences, all Americans can take pride that our nation has a female vice president-elect for the very first time.

I look forward to finishing our the next 36 days strong with President Trump. Our nation needs us to add another bipartisan chapter to this record of achievement.