After spending weeks summoning his supporters to Washington on the day Congress is slated to certify his Electoral College loss, Donald Trump says he will speak at one planned protest on Wednesday.
There are three pro-Trump protests planned in the capital city on Wednesday, with one on Tuesday. The president has said, as he did on a controversial phone call on Saturday with Georgia election officials, that his backers are “angry” about a “rigged” election in which Democrats managed to “steal” a second term away from him. On that, he and his team have offered no evidence.
That’s no matter to his supporters, who appear in media interviews and social media posts to believe there was widespread voter fraud – even though numerous federal judges, including some appointed by Mr Trump, have thrown out most of the Trump team’s lawsuits arguing just that.
Expect Mr Trump to repeat many of the falsehoods about November’s outcome, which say him lose the Electoral College 306-232 to President-elect Joe Biden and the popular vote by 7m votes, he did at a Monday night campaign rally in Georgia for two GOP Senate candidates.
“I will be speaking at the SAVE AMERICA RALLY tomorrow on the Ellipse at 11AM Eastern. Arrive early — doors open at 7AM Eastern,” Mr Trump tweeted.
The crowd size-obsessed president then added: “BIG CROWDS!”
Some of Mr Trump’s critics have accused him of stoking violence. The District government has banned all guns on Wednesday, and police are gearing up for possible violence like the last time there was a pro-Trump protest in the capital.
And a number of senators have publicly denounced the effort to object to the electoral college votes being certified, including Tim Scott.
"As I read the Constitution, there is no constitutionally viable means for the Congress to overturn an election wherein the states have certified and sent their electors," said Senator Tim Scott, from South Carolina, in a statement. "Some of my colleagues believe they have found a path, and while our opinions differ, I do not doubt their good intentions to take steps towards stamping out voter fraud. Importantly, I disagree with their method both in principle and in practice."
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