Detecting language using up to the first 30 seconds. Use `--language` to specify the language Detected language: English [00:00.000 --> 00:06.560] I'm Dave Champion. Well, we got through December 14th when the electors from all over the country [00:06.560 --> 00:12.560] met in D.C. and they actually voted in their official capacity as electors. And of course, [00:12.560 --> 00:20.640] what was the final? It was 306 for Biden and 232 for Trump. And there's been a lot of discussion [00:20.640 --> 00:29.680] about whether somehow Trump can end up being president come January 20th. And so now that [00:29.680 --> 00:35.200] we've gotten through December 14th, which is a seminal moment in the entire process, [00:35.760 --> 00:41.840] now a lot of Trump loyalists are claiming that that doesn't matter because it's all going to [00:41.840 --> 00:58.000] get fixed on January 6th in Congress. Is that true? I'm going to try and do this fairly quickly [00:58.000 --> 01:03.440] because it's rather cut and dry. I guess the first thing I want to say is if you haven't [01:03.440 --> 01:07.520] read the 12th Amendment, which controls this entire process, and you're unfamiliar with [01:07.520 --> 01:13.200] Congress's rules pertaining to how that mechanism is to play out actually in the building called [01:13.200 --> 01:17.840] Congress, if you're unfamiliar with those two things, you have no idea what you're talking [01:17.840 --> 01:22.400] about. So let's go back again to December 14th. The electors show up in D.C. and they make their [01:22.400 --> 01:29.520] votes on behalf of the citizens of their state. So what happens after that? What happens leading [01:29.520 --> 01:41.360] up to January 6th? A certain state official will send the certificates of votes to D.C. And it goes [01:41.360 --> 01:46.800] to the president of the Senate, who is Mike Pence. It goes to various other entities, the district [01:46.800 --> 01:51.920] court over that particular region and the archivist of the United States. It goes to about four or five [01:51.920 --> 01:57.760] or six different people. But the important thing is each of the 50 states and D.C. send their [01:57.760 --> 02:07.680] certificates of votes to Congress, where on January 6th they will be counted in front of a [02:07.680 --> 02:13.280] joint session of Congress. So January 6th comes around and we have a joint session of Congress. [02:13.280 --> 02:18.240] A joint session means the Senate and the House are both sitting at the same time. So in this [02:18.240 --> 02:22.720] scenario under the 12th Amendment, Mike Pence as the president of the Senate, he presides over the [02:22.720 --> 02:27.600] Senate and Nancy Pelosi as the speaker presides over the House because Democrats have the majority [02:27.600 --> 02:34.480] in the House. Then the process begins. And this process is led by Mike Pence. Now there's some [02:34.480 --> 02:42.320] information out there claiming that Mike Pence has absolute control. Yeah, no. He has a job to do and [02:42.320 --> 02:47.600] he can't just say, I say I'm going to do a bunch of stuff different than what the Constitution says. [02:47.600 --> 02:52.240] You can't do that. I mean, there's a role for the president of the Senate. And the role is this. [02:52.880 --> 02:59.600] Mike Pence will take the envelopes, the transmittal envelopes from each of the states. [02:59.600 --> 03:06.320] They get opened in alphabetical order as per the name of the states. So the transmittal open [03:06.320 --> 03:13.840] envelope gets open. Mike Pence extracts the content and he reads the electoral vote from that state [03:13.840 --> 03:21.200] to the joint session of Congress. All of the senators, all of the members of the House, they all [03:21.200 --> 03:28.160] hear. He opens it up and he verbalizes it and everybody gets to hear it. That's Mike Pence's [03:28.160 --> 03:33.920] role. He doesn't have any super duper powers. It's at this point that many of the Trump loyalists [03:33.920 --> 03:40.560] believe that there's some sort of magic is going to happen. And by that, they imagine that there's [03:40.560 --> 03:47.760] going to be an objection, a challenge issued. And then the slate of votes from that state [03:47.760 --> 03:54.880] are going to be tossed. And therefore, Biden's 306 electoral votes will start to get ratcheted [03:54.880 --> 04:02.800] down. And the goal is to get beneath 270. And that would then kick in the constitutional [04:02.800 --> 04:09.360] requirement for the House to select the president. OK, so yeah, that's never going to happen. But [04:09.360 --> 04:13.520] let me explain what the mechanics are nevertheless. So if you are a Trump loyalist, [04:14.080 --> 04:18.160] you can get off this particular train because the way the rules are set up and absolutely [04:18.160 --> 04:23.120] positively 100% will never happen. OK, so you need to understand this. So let us say that a [04:23.120 --> 04:31.600] member of the House objects. OK, Speaker, I object to the slate from the slate of votes from Wisconsin. [04:31.600 --> 04:38.000] OK, I wish to impart a challenge. OK, so under the rules, there has to be two things that have to [04:38.000 --> 04:43.040] happen. It has to be in writing and signed, so they can verbalize it, but it has to be submitted [04:43.040 --> 04:50.480] in advance, written, and signed. That's the requirement number one. Requirement number two [04:50.480 --> 04:58.080] is in order for anything to happen concerning that challenge, the member of the House has to [04:58.080 --> 05:04.720] be joined in his or her challenge by a senator. And I'm going to get into in a few minutes why [05:04.720 --> 05:11.280] that's not going to happen. But let's say for the sake of argument that it does, that a senator [05:11.280 --> 05:19.200] joins with a Trump loyalist member of the House, and together they challenge it. OK, so what happens [05:19.200 --> 05:23.760] at that point? You have a valid challenge, OK? Valid challenge does not mean you win. [05:24.320 --> 05:28.960] A valid challenge does not mean you get to throw the slate out, right? The slate of votes from [05:28.960 --> 05:32.800] the state that you've challenged. It doesn't mean that. It means you challenge. OK, so here's what [05:32.800 --> 05:43.440] happens. Mike Pence then, he dissolves the joint session of Congress, and then each House goes [05:43.440 --> 05:49.760] their own separate way, so to speak, and they debate the pros and cons of the challenge [05:51.840 --> 05:57.920] for two hours. That's it. They get two hours for each House to debate it independently. [05:58.000 --> 06:03.440] OK? Then at the end of two hours, Mike Pence calls the joint session of Congress back in, [06:04.880 --> 06:12.960] and they vote. OK, now here's the reason I tell you, Trump loyalist, that you might want to get [06:12.960 --> 06:20.080] off this particular train, because it's never going to happen. Here's what happens. Both Houses, [06:20.800 --> 06:31.520] both Houses must vote to reject the state's slate of electors. OK? So the Senate that's [06:31.520 --> 06:36.240] controlled by Republicans, in theory, perhaps they might vote for it. I doubt it, but they might. [06:36.800 --> 06:41.280] I'll explain why I doubt it in a moment. But the House is controlled by the Dems, [06:41.280 --> 06:51.200] and Biden's a Dem. So the House is never, in a million years, going to vote to [06:52.560 --> 06:59.840] toss the electoral votes from a state that went for Biden, because that's the only one that the [06:59.840 --> 07:07.280] Trump loyalists will object to, right? So the Dems are not going to vote to reject the slate of votes [07:08.080 --> 07:14.000] that are for Joe Biden. They're just never going to do that. I said a few moments ago [07:14.000 --> 07:19.680] that I was going to explain why I don't think any senator, including Republican senators, [07:19.680 --> 07:27.040] are going to join a challenge offered by a Trump loyalist member of the House. [07:27.760 --> 07:35.280] The reason for that is, on December 15th, Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, [07:36.080 --> 07:39.760] stood on the Senate floor. He didn't just talk to some reporter walking down the hall. [07:40.400 --> 07:51.200] He stood on the Senate floor, and he congratulated Joe Biden on becoming the president-elect, [07:51.840 --> 07:58.400] and he congratulated Harris on being the first female VP of the United States. [07:59.360 --> 08:06.400] Mitch McConnell is the guy who's in charge of keeping all of the Senate Republicans in line. [08:08.000 --> 08:13.760] That may sound ugly, keeping them in line, but that's what Pelosi does as Speaker with the Dems, [08:13.760 --> 08:20.080] and that's what McConnell's job is with Senate Republicans, is to keep them in line so that [08:20.080 --> 08:27.680] leadership can control the direction that the Senate Republicans, in this case, [08:27.760 --> 08:32.960] the Senate Republicans take. That's been the case for as long as there have been senators [08:32.960 --> 08:37.760] and members of the House. Whoever is in charge, their job is to keep the subordinates [08:37.760 --> 08:46.160] in line, and Mitch McConnell is that person. It is a very strong signal when Mitch McConnell [08:46.160 --> 08:50.960] stands up on the floor of the Senate and congratulates Joe Biden on being president-elect [08:50.960 --> 08:59.120] after the Electoral College votes were tabulated on December 14th. The fact that he's doing that [09:00.240 --> 09:06.880] intends to telegraph that the Senate Republicans are not going to play Donald Trump's game [09:06.880 --> 09:13.920] concerning the election any further, that the Electoral College has spoken, and as far as the [09:13.920 --> 09:20.160] Senate Republicans are concerned, that is the end of the story. They have a lot of these senators, [09:20.160 --> 09:25.760] none that I'm aware of, have actually jumped on board this Trump election fraud train. [09:25.760 --> 09:29.680] What they've consistently said is, you know what, the president has every right to exhaust his [09:29.680 --> 09:38.400] legal options, and they have refrained from calling Joe Biden president-elect. On the 14th, [09:38.400 --> 09:42.800] the Electoral College met and tabulated their votes, and on the 15th, the next day, [09:42.800 --> 09:47.200] Mitch McConnell said he wanted to congratulate Joe Biden being the president-elect. [09:47.840 --> 09:51.680] So we've crossed the Rubicon as far as Senate Republicans are concerned. [09:52.480 --> 09:59.440] That is why I say I think the odds that any Republican senator is going to join a Trump [09:59.440 --> 10:05.360] loyalist member of the House in objecting to a slate of votes from a particular state, [10:05.360 --> 10:09.920] I just don't see it happening. However, going back to what I said earlier, even if that were to [10:09.920 --> 10:13.920] happen, all that would happen is they would dissolve the joint session. The two Houses, [10:13.920 --> 10:18.160] each of them would take two hours. They would come back into joint session, and they would vote. [10:18.160 --> 10:22.080] They both have to vote to reject the slate in order for that to happen, [10:22.080 --> 10:29.600] and the Democratic Party-controlled House is never going to do that. [10:29.600 --> 10:36.240] Okay, so this is the way it's all going to go down, right? There's not a snowball's [10:36.240 --> 10:41.680] chance in hell that Donald Trump is going to remain the president after January 20th. [10:42.320 --> 10:48.080] But I understand that if certain people don't understand the mechanism that takes place on the [10:48.080 --> 10:55.120] 6th, it's very appealing to spew loyalist rhetoric. Carry on. If you want to do that, [10:55.120 --> 11:01.680] it's awesome, man. Not really. But I think everybody deserves to know what the mechanism [11:01.680 --> 11:06.480] really is, how it's really going to go down. So hopefully this has been helpful.