Challenge To Pa. Electoral Vote In Early Morning Heats Up Rhetoric On Capitol Hill Violence
WASHINGTON (KDKA) -- While most of us slept, the process of certifying the Electoral College votes pressed on well into the early morning hours.
It got heated when Pennsylvania's vote got called up, objected to, and then debated.
President Donald Trump's false assertions that he won this election in a landslide and that Pennsylvania really voted for him instead of Joe Biden inflamed the rhetoric when Pennsylvania congressmen like Mike Kelly and Guy Reschenthaler moved early Thursday to toss out Pennsylvania's Electoral vote.
"This attempt to disenfranchise the voters of Pennsylvania based upon a lie, a falsehood -- that same lie sowed the seeds of today's violence and today's lawlessness here in the Capitol," said U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat, on the Senate floor.
"We saw bloodshed because a demagogue chose to spread falsehoods and sow distrust of his own fellow Americans," said U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican.
But Trump supporter U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, a Butler Republican, blamed Pennsylvania for what he called an unconstitutional state law allowing no-fault mail-in ballots.
"We have driven the people apart through the people's House, and we wonder what happens?" Kelly told his colleagues.
When U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, a Mt. Lebanon Democrat, linked the violence at the Capitol to his Republican colleagues repeating the president's lies, things heated up.
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"We know that the attack today did not materialize out of nowhere. It was inspired by lies, the same lies that you are hearing in the room tonight," Lamb told his colleagues. "And the members who repeated those lies should be ashamed of themselves, and their constituents should be ashamed of them."
That brought a rebuke from some Republicans.
"The gentleman said there were lies on this floor, looking over here in this direction. I ask that those words be taken down," said a Republican congressman.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi overruled the objection, as Lamb said, "Sad, but it's true. The truth hurts."
Off-camera, a scuffle broke out as members of Congress ran to defend their colleagues.
"There will be order in the House," said Pelosi. "There will be order in the House."
Order was restored, and early Thursday morning, Pennsylvania's Electoral College vote for Biden was upheld.