{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphy-the-president-and-congressional-republicans-refusal-to-accept-the-free-and-fair-election-results-is-an-assault-on-our-democracy", "Murphy: The President And Congressional Republicans Refusal To Accept The Free And Fair Election Results Is An Assault On Our DemocracyRead More", "2020-11-11", "2020", "2020-11", "Democrat", "House", "CT", "Christopher Murphy", "M001169", "www.murphy.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTONU.S.\r\nSenator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Tuesday took to the U.S. Senate floor to\r\nslam President Trump and Senate Republicans for their refusal to accept the\r\nfree and fair election results. On the\r\npresident's refusal to concede, Murphy said: He's not conceding because he believes that there's a\r\nchance he can remain as president without having won the election so long as\r\ncongressional Republicans are willing to stick with him step by step by step. And so\r\nfar, there is no evidence that congressional Republicans are ever going to step\r\naway from President Trump's delusional assault on democracy. Senator McConnell\r\nsaid this week that the president is within his rights to fight the election.'\r\nThat is, of course, true. The president can keep filing frivolous legal\r\nchallenges if he wants, we're not going to stop him from doing that. But just\r\nbecause he has the right to mount these legal challenges, that doesn't mean\r\nthat Republicans here have to support him in those efforts if they contravene\r\nthe interests of democracy and the interests of a smooth transition of power. On\r\nSecretary Pompeo's comments that there would be a successful transition to a\r\nsecond Trump administration, Murphy said: This isn't just for show. They are going to keep\r\npushing the bounds of democracy until somebody stops them. On the\r\nlong-term consequences of the Republican party's erosion of faith in our\r\nelections, Murphy said:\r\nIn the middle of a pandemic that's killed going on 250,000 Americans, losing\r\nfaith in public institutions is deadly. The president is delusional. There was\r\nno voter fraud. He lost. The American people by a large margin chose Joe Biden\r\nas President of the United States. And this delusion is not a quaint sideshow.\r\nIt's an assault on our democracy that will have consequences for the future\r\nviability of democracy, but also for the viability of public institutions to\r\nmeet crises, like the one that we stand in the middle of today. Murphy\r\nconcluded: The\r\npresident's behavior and the behavior of Republicans in Congress who support\r\nhim is dangerously unpatriotic. A\r\nfull transcript of Murphy's remarks can be found below: Thank you\r\nMadam President. A\r\nrepublican candidate in California by the name of Errol Webber lost his race\r\nfor congress by 72 points, and yet he is not conceding that he has lost. He\r\nsays I'm going to the Los Angeles County registrar's office to audit the vote\r\ncounting procedures. I will not concede, every legal vote needs to be counted.' Just up\r\nthe road in Maryland, a Republican candidate by the name of Kim Klacik lost by\r\n40 points and she is refusing to concede. She retweeted a post from President\r\nTrump in which he claimed that the election was stolen and she wrote, I beat\r\nmy opponent on day-of and in-person early voting along with absentee. However,\r\n97,000 mail in ballots were found in his favor?' My\r\ncolleagues, there is an epidemic of delusion that is spreading out from the\r\nWhite House and infecting the entire Republican party in the wake of this\r\nelection. And it presents a real threat to this country. President Trump didn't\r\nwin the election. Every single one of my colleagues knows this. And he didn't\r\njust losehe lost by a pretty substantial margin. He lost by 4.3% of the\r\npopular vote, likely around 70 electoral votes when all the counting is done. And,\r\nwhile the results haven't been certified yet, this isn't the election in 2000.\r\nThere aren't any hanging chads, we're not arguing about 500 votes here or\r\nthere. In Michigan, the margin today is 148,000. In Nevada, the margin is\r\n36,000. In Pennsylvania, it's 47,000. In Wisconsin, it's 20,000. In Georgia,\r\nit's 12,000. In Arizona, it's 14,000. Thousands and thousands of votes are\r\nthese margins. Now\r\nHillary Clinton, in 2016, lost by less than the president did in Pennsylvania\r\nand Michigan, and by about the same amount in Wisconsin, and she conceded the\r\nday after the election. And this is important. And I think that we need to talk\r\nabout it here because it has real consequences for democracy and for national\r\nsecurity. Why hasn't the president conceded? Now, it's\r\nnot because there was voter fraud or because the election was stolen from him.\r\nWe're a week out and the president is still desperately searching for evidence\r\nof fraud. He won't find it because it doesn't exist. It doesn't exist in\r\nPennsylvania or Michigan or Wisconsin or Georgia. The\r\npresident has empowered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to now go out and\r\nlaunch investigations of voter fraud, despite a long standing precedent for the\r\nDOJ to stay out of elections if their actions could be determinative. But the\r\npresident is so desperate to now fill in his mythology, his narrative, with\r\nfacts that he doesn't have, that he's sending the DOJ on this massive national\r\nfishing expedition. He hasn't conceded, not because there is fraudthere hasn't\r\nbeen. He's not conceding because he believes that there's a chance he can\r\nremain as president without having won the election so long as congressional\r\nRepublicans are willing to stick with him step by step by step. And so\r\nfar, there is no evidence that congressional Republicans are ever going to step\r\naway from President Trump's delusional assault on democracy. Senator McConnell\r\nsaid this week that the president is within his rights to fight the election.'\r\nThat is, of course, true. The president can keep filing frivolous legal\r\nchallenges if he wants. We're not going to stop him from doing that. But just\r\nbecause he has the right to mount these legal challenges, that doesn't mean\r\nthat Republicans here have to support him in those efforts if they contravene\r\nthe interests of democracy and the interests of a smooth transition of power. Today,\r\nRepublicans support the president's refusal to concede, they support his\r\nlawsuits, they call on election officials, most recently in Georgia, who\r\nrefused to bend their knee to Trump to resign, and they endorse the president's\r\ndecision to refuse to begin the transition. This may\r\nsort of seem like a sideshow now to the inevitability of a transfer of power,\r\nbut what's next? What if President Trump asks Republicans here to contest the\r\nselection of electors? What if he gets the message from Republicans in Congress\r\nthat if you're willing to support all the steps he has taken since Tuesday,\r\nthat you will continue to support his efforts to try to remain in office\r\ndespite losing both the popular vote and the electoral college? That's\r\nwithin his rights to ask you to support a contest of electors. But will you do\r\nit? And what so far have we seen to suggest that there is an end to your\r\ndecision to put your allegiance to this president above an allegiance to the\r\ncountry. The\r\nSecretary of State was asked today if he thought there would be a smooth\r\ntransition of power from President Trump to the winner of the election, Vice\r\nPresident and President-Elect Biden. And Secretary Pompeo said there will be a\r\nsmooth transition to a second Trump administration. Listen,\r\nthese guys aren't playing. This isn't just for show. They are going to keep\r\npushing the bounds of democracy until somebody stops them. It's logical to ask\r\nif Republicans have been willing to support every conspiracy that the president\r\nhas engaged in over the last week, then why wouldn't they support the next set\r\nof attacks on democracy that this president engages in? How far are Republicans\r\nwilling to go in their attacks against the decision of voters? Now for\r\nthe president, there's really no downside to what he is doing right now. Either\r\nhe steals the election, or he grows his political power. Because we learned in\r\nthe last 24 hours, that the president is raising money today online from his\r\nsupportersnot for a fund that is designed to strictly finance a recount\r\neffortbut for a new political action committee that he has established that\r\nwill fund his political efforts over the next four years. The button you click\r\nmay give you the idea that you are supporting the president's recount, but in\r\nfact, you are helping him to amass resources that will allow him to be a major\r\npolitical presence for the next four years. And so either the president is\r\nsuccessful in continuing this assault on the transition of power, or he's able\r\nto amass resources that help him into the future. There's\r\nno downside for the president. There's a big downside for the rest of us.\r\nThere's a big downside for this country. In the short run, the country's\r\nnational security is threatened by a messy transition. This has been covered, I\r\nthink well today, but traditionally, the President-Elect would be able to start\r\ngetting briefings on national security threats, would start to get access to\r\nclassified information, would begin to be able to do background checks on\r\nindividuals that he would like to be part of his national security cabinet.\r\nTraditionally, those are amongst the first confirmations that move through this\r\nbodyare the president's national security team. All of that being delayed by a\r\npresident who refuses to begin a transition and a Republican Senate that\r\nrefuses to put pressure on the president to change his mind. But also,\r\nin some ways more insidious, is the attack on the rule of law and the idea of\r\npeaceful transition of power itself. The narrative that President Trump is\r\nspreading and that congressional Republicans are facilitating right now that\r\nthe election was stolen or rigged, it isn't being written on a whiteboard\r\nthat's going to be neatly and tidily erased as soon as 2021 shows up. No, the\r\nwork that is being done right now by the Republican party to undermine faith in\r\nour elections, it will have a very long, very long tail. And when\r\nthe American people, or a large percentage of them, lose faith in elections,\r\nwhen they are told by leaders they trust that elections that are actually held\r\nlegitimately are illegitimate, then those individuals, of course, will\r\nnaturally lose faith in public institutions themselves. If all the people who\r\ngot elected were illegitimately chosen, then so must be the actions they take\r\nonce they are in office. Now, maybe\r\nthat's consistent with the general Republican project over the last several\r\ndecades. I've watched as Republicans have engaged in a withering assault on the\r\npublic sector, the whole idea from Republicans has been that government is\r\nillegitimate by its very nature and can't do anything to help you or solve your\r\nproblems. But that idea, if it is in fact, the goal of my Republican\r\ncolleagues, to delegitimize public institutions by delegitimizing\r\nelectionsit's really dangerous for two reasons. One, don't\r\nassume that democracy can survive this. If the 45% of the country that supports\r\nDonald Trump doesn't really believe that elections are legitimate, I'm not sure\r\nthat democracy hangs around for another hundred years. But second, we are\r\nliving in a moment where it's really important for people to have faith in\r\npublic institutions. There is no way for us to turn the corner on this pandemic\r\nunless people believe what leaders are telling them about how to conduct\r\nthemselves or about how we're going to administer a vaccine, or about why the\r\nbusiness around the corner from you is limiting the number of people who can\r\nenter it. In the\r\nmiddle of a pandemic that's killed going on 250,000 Americans, losing faith in\r\npublic institutions is deadly. The president is delusional. There was no voter\r\nfraud. He lost. The American people by a large margin chose Joe Biden as\r\nPresident of the United States. And this delusion is not a quaint sideshow.\r\nIt's an assault on our democracy that will have consequences for the future viability\r\nof democracy, but also for the viability of public institutions to meet crises,\r\nlike the one that we stand in the middle of today. The\r\npresident's behavior and the behavior of Republicans in Congress who support\r\nhim is dangerously unpatriotic. When we arrive in a Senate, we swear an oath to\r\nour country, not to our party. And right now, our president and congressional\r\nRepublicans are not living up to that oath. I yield\r\nthe floor. ###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphy-the-president-and-congressional-republicans-refusal-to-accept-the-free-and-fair-election-results-is-an-assault-on-our-democracy"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4916399959474802, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}