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In May 2021, as polls showed Republican voters clinging to Donald Trump’s “big lie” about the presidential race from the previous fall, then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters, “I don’t think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election.”
Two-and-a-half years later, however, too many GOP officials still won’t acknowledge the results. Axios reported on one of the more striking moments from the Sunday shows.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) on Sunday repeatedly did not answer whether or not the 2020 election was not stolen when questioned by ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. Why it matters: Scalise is one of several GOP lawmakers who have avoided publicly confirming that the 2020 presidential election wasn’t stolen through widespread voter fraud.
In context, Stephanopoulos reminded the GOP leader that Republican Rep. Ken Buck, who announced last week that he won’t seek re-election next year, made some pointed remarks about the circumstances surrounding his departure from Capitol Hill. “Our nation is on a collision course with reality,” the Coloradan said. “And a steadfast commitment to truth, even uncomfortable truths, is the only way forward. Too many Republican leaders are lying to America, claiming that the 2020 election was stolen.”
With this in mind, the ABC host gave Scalise an opportunity to respond. The Louisiana Republican said he’d worked with Buck “on a number of issues,” and then changed the subject.
Stephanopoulos pressed further, asking, “Can you say unequivocally the 2020 election was not stolen?” Scalise equivocated.
To his credit, the “This Week” host didn’t let go.
“That’s not what I asked,” Stephanopoulos added. “I said, can you say unequivocally that the 2020 election was not stolen?” Scalise then acknowledged that Joe Biden is the president, at which point he tried to change the subject again.
“Congressman, I know that Joe Biden is president,” the anchor said. “I’m asking you a different question. Can you say unequivocally that the 2020 election was not stolen?” Scalise again wouldn’t answer.
“So you just refuse to say unequivocally that the 2020 election was not stolen?” Stephanopoulos again asked. Scalise, instead of answering, said the host was “rehashing 2020.”
“I just want an answer to the question, yes or no?” the host asked again. The GOP leader wouldn’t say. “Can you say unequivocally that the 2020 election was not stolen?” the host added. Scalise pointed to “a handful of states that didn’t follow” election laws, which wasn’t an answer.
“I just want to say, again, for the record, you cannot say that the 2020 election was not stolen?” Stephanopoulos again asked. Scalise hedged. “Yes or no, was the 2020 election stolen?” the host concluded.
“What I’ve told you is Joe Biden’s the president of the United States,” Scalise replied.
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates responded soon after in a written statement, “Election denial is a dangerous conspiracy theory that has done unprecedented harm to the country and has been comprehensively debunked by over 80 federal judges, as well as the Trump Administration’s national security officials.” Bates added that this is “not a time to perpetuate long-discredited conspiracy theories that fueled an assault on the Capitol and tear Americans apart.”
We’ll never know for sure, of course, but it’s hard not to wonder: Did Scalise keep dodging the question because he didn’t want to state his own conspiratorial beliefs on national television, or did the House majority leader worry that if he acknowledged reality he’d pay a steep political price within his party?