Rounds dismisses Trump’s criticism for saying he lost the election | New policies

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SIOUX FALLS, SD (AP) U.S. Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota on Monday said he was upholding his statement that former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election after Trump called his fellow Republican idiot for his comments.

Rounds said he was disappointed but not surprised by Trump’s attack.

Since his loss, Trump has repeatedly said that the 2020 election was stolen from him, even as courts, audits and recounts have repeatedly confirmed that the results are free and fair.

This is not new information, “Rounds said in a statement. If we are honest, there was no evidence of widespread fraud that would have affected the election results.

Rounds had said in an ABC News’ This Week interview on Sunday that Republicans need to move forward and focus on winning the election, and added that people can believe and trust these elections are fair … and so on. is in each case. the state we examined.

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Rounds was also asked if it was possible for Congress to pass a law to prevent Trump from running for president on the grounds that he broke his oath by supporting the Jan.6 insurgency. Rounds responded that the courts, not Congress, are the appropriate place to answer such questions, but said Trump should not be immune from the justice system.

While many Republican senators agree with the rounds, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the South Dakota’s comments were still somewhat extraordinary in an environment where most GOP politicians have shied away. to openly criticize Trump.

The party’s retention by former presidents was clear last week, when Republicans stayed away from Washington and refused to join Democrats in commemorating the anniversary of the Jan.6 uprising, the worst attack on the Capitol for over two centuries.

Trump said on Monday that Rounds was only speaking because he was easily re-elected in 2020 with Trump’s approval, so now he thinks he has the time, and it’s the only ones, the weak, who will go their separate ways, Trump said. I will never support this asshole again, he added.

Rounds noted that former Vice President Mike Pence acknowledged Joe Bidens’ victory and acted with integrity.

It’s time for the rest of us to do the same, he said.

The comments from the rounds come days after his Republican colleague in the Senate, John Thune, announced he would run for re-election after considering retirement. Thune, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate and one of the top candidates to succeed McConnell, has also drawn criticism from Trump for saying he believes Biden won the presidential election.

Ahead of the Jan.6 uprising on the U.S. Capitol, Thune said any attempt to overturn the legitimate results would go like a hound in the Senate.

Thune was right, more than 90 senators voted against two separate objections to the results hours after Trump supporters violently stormed onto Capitol Hill in protest. While Rounds and Thune voted to certify Bidens’ victory, neither voted to impeach Trump in the weeks that followed.

On Monday, Thune welcomed the club when asked about Rounds’ statement in response to Trump. Echoing McConnell, Thune said Republicans need to focus on the future, not the past, and on important political issues such as the economy and national security.

There are just a lot of things we need to talk about in order to gain and gain the support of the American people in 2022, Thune said.

Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed from Washington.

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