WASHINGTON — Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a senior Republican and adviser to the majority leader, said flatly Thursday that President Donald Trump has no realistic path to overturning the election.
After weeks of court defeats, he noted, Trump's legal team has yet to show evidence of fraud and ballot tampering despite claims of massive, widespread tampering that padded Joe Biden's tally by hundreds of thousands if not millions of votes.
"It looks to me like a pathway for the president has narrowed if not closed," Cornyn said.
And if Trump allies try to overturn the will of the Electoral College in Congress, they won't find an ally in Cornyn.
"I know of no reason that would justify Congress not doing that," the senator said in a call with Texas news outlets.
Members of the Electoral College meet Dec. 14 to cast ballots. Biden's tally is 306-232. The half-dozen states where Trump mounted recounts and court challenges have all certified their votes.
By law, Congress meets Jan. 6 to certify that result, and that's almost always a mere formality.
But some Trump supporters in the House have threatened to try to derail that, which requires at least one House member and one senator to object in writing. No senator has stepped forward so far to say they'd be willing to do that.
Cornyn has refrained from referring to Biden as the president-elect, or the winner. On Thursday's call, he referred to him as "Former Vice President Biden" in discussing some of Biden's picks for Cabinet and other senior posts. Asked directly whether he views Biden as president-elect, Cornyn said "no," reiterating the stance he's taken for weeks.
Only two Texas Republicans in Congress have explicitly acknowledged Biden's victory. Rep. Will Hurd of suburban San Antonio did so as soon as Biden was declared the winner on Nov. 7. Rep. Kay Granger of Fort Worth said Nov. 20 that "it's time to move on."
Cornyn and Sen. Ted Cruz, along with 20 other GOP members of the House from Texas and seven incoming House freshmen have all refrained from acknowledging Biden's win.
Thursday marked one month since Election Day. Saturday will mark four weeks since Biden's victory became apparent, and the TV networks, Associated Press and other independent election analysts deemed him the winner, after results in Pennsylvania became clear enough to put him over the top_at least 270 out of 538 electoral votes.
As counting of mail ballots has continued, Biden's lead in the popular vote has hit roughly 7 million.
Trump lost the popular vote by 3 million four years ago, though he notched the same electoral margin initially. His final margin was 304-227, because some electors refused to cast votes in line with their states' voters.
