Hawley Hit Hard in Interview on Fox News | Eastern NC Now

Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the LifeZette. The author of this post is David Kamioner.

    Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, didn't do his homework on Monday and it showed. When Fox anchor Brett Baier hit him hard in an interview, Hawley sounded flat footed. He recovered somewhat, but at the end still couldn't surmount a basic question.

    Baier focused on the obvious point that no matter what Hawley or others do on Wednesday, Biden will be inaugurated on January 20th. So why not admit it?

    The seeming, at very early Wednesday morning press time, Republican loss of both Senate seats in Georgia will only make Hawley's effort seem that much more futile.

    The Hill: "Fox News anchor Bret Baier pressed Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) late Monday to explicitly say whether he believes President Trump will remain in the White House despite his defeat in the November election. Last week, Hawley became the first Republican senator to say he plans to object when Congress meets to certify the Electoral College vote on Wednesday, citing what he claims are irregularities in the voting process."

    "I want to pin you down on what you're trying to do," Baier told Hawley. "Are you trying to say as of Jan. 20 Trump will be president?"

    Hawley: "That depends on what happens on Wednesday, that's why we have the debate."

    "No it doesn't," Baier retorted. "The states, by the Constitution, say they certify the election, they did certify it. By the Constitution, Congress does not have the right to overturn the certification, at least as most experts read it."

    "Well," Hawley insisted, "Congress is directed under the 12th amendment to count the electoral votes, there's a statute that dates back to the 1800s, 19th century, that says there is a right to object, there's a right to be heard, and there's also [the] certification right."

    Baier parried: "It's from 1876, senator, and it's the Tilden-Hayes race, in which there were three states that did not certify their electors. So Congress was left to come up with this system, this commission that eventually got to negotiate a grand bargain...But now all of the states have certified their elections. As of 14 December. So it doesn't by constitutional ways, open a door to Congress to overturn that, does it?"

    Hawley: "There's a statute that governs what Congress does on January 6th, and it says that we have a vote of certification and that we have the opportunity to debate the results, to certify the results, we count them and then we certify...My point is, this is my only opportunity during this process to raise an objection and to be heard. I don't have standing to file lawsuits...I do have a responsibility in this joint session of Congress to either say 'I've got no problem with it' or 'I do have a problem with it.' And my constituents expect me, and they're right to say, 'I have a problem.'"

    "Don't you have a responsibility to tell them that it's not going to be President Trump as of January 21st as well?" Baier asked. Hawley had no effective response to that simple query.