Louisiana GOP Rep. Steve Scalise declined to comment on whether he believes the 2020 election was "stolen".
The election was held 11 months ago and President Joe Biden has been in power for eight months.
There is no evidence that widespread voter fraud was committed in the election.
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Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the number two Republican in US House of Representatives refused to claim that President Joe Biden won the 2020 election fairly more than 11 months later.
Scalise, House minority whip, stated that he was clear from the start during a Sunday appearance on Fox News Sunday. If you look at the laws of many states, you will see that they did not follow them. This is what the United States Constitution states. They do not say that the states decide what the rules should be. They believe the rules are determined by the state legislatures.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic many states expanded or changed mail-in voting options during last year's elections. These efforts were attacked by many Republicans including former President Donald Trump.
Fox News' Chris Wallace repeatedly pressed Scalise Sunday, asking him if Scalise believed that President Donald Trump's unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud led to a "stolen election." In December 2020, Trump's Attorney General William Barr stated that neither the Federal Bureau of Investigation nor the Department of Justice had found any evidence of widespread fraud in this election.
Trump made similar claims on Saturday.
Scalise stated, "What I said was there were states that didn’t follow their legislatively established rules," but refused to say whether he believes the election was "stolen."
"That's the United States Constitution. I believe there are many people who want us to return to what the Constitution tells us we should do with elections and a variety of other matters. There are also people who want to ignore the Constitution and do their thing. He said, "That's been a discussion that's been ongoing in this country for quite some time."
Scalise's remarks come over 11 months after President Joe Biden defeated then-President Trump in the 2020 presidential election. He is one of only a few presidents who lost a bid to reelection.
The former president, his attorneys, and his aides filed numerous unproven lawsuits and claims in the months following Trump's defeat. This was all in an effort to reverse the election results. All of these efforts failed. Trump's persistent attempts to undermine the election resulted in the January 6th riot at US Capitol.
GOP Rep. Liz Cheney lashed Scalise for refusing say whether he believes the election was stolen.
"Millions of Americans were sold a fraud that the election had been stolen. Republicans have a responsibility to inform the American people this is false. The Wyoming lawmaker tweeted, "Perpetuating the Big Lie" is an attack against the core of our Constitution republic.
Cheney urged GOP lawmakers in May to abandon Trump's baseless claims about his election victory.
"The 2020 presidential election wasn't stolen. She tweeted that anyone who claims it was spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their face on the rule of Law, and poisoning democracy.