AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
- Steve Bannon said that speakers at Donald Trump’s rally will decertify Joe Biden’s electors in Arizona.
- Law professors told Poynter there is no legal mechanism for decertifying the 2020 election results.
- Some Republicans want Arizona’s election results decertified despite audits affirming Biden’s win.
On Saturday, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon released a new episode of his “War Room” podcast in which he claimed that the former president’s rally on Saturday would serve as a precursor to the decertification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win.
“It’s the kickoff of 2022. A huge speech in front of a massive crowd by Donald J. Trump and, of course, they’re all melting down about who’s on stage with him. They’re all people that are going to get to the decertification of the 2020 Biden electors,” Bannon said.
—Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 15, 2022
Several individuals are slated to speak at the “Save America” rally in Florence, Arizona, including Mike Lindell, Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, and several candidates running for public office in the state who have received Trump’s endorsement.
The event was scheduled after Trump canceled his January 6 speech at Mar-a-Lago, which his advisers said would result in bad press coverage and urged him against doing.
“I want to make sure Jamie Raskin, Bennie Thompson, all you guys write this down. Take your No. 2 pencils out. We’re going to decertify, I didn’t say we were going to certify Trump electors, but we’re going to decertify Biden electors in Arizona, in Wisconsin, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and in the great state of Georgia,” Bannon said on his podcast.
Law professors from Arizona State University told Poynter there is no legal mechanism to undo the appointment of electors or change a certification once a president has been sworn into office. Multiple GOP-led audits in the state also confirmed Biden’s presidential win over Trump.
Still, a handful of GOP officials in the Arizona legislature are calling on Gov. Doug Ducey and state senate President Karen Fann, both of whom are Republicans, to decertify the state’s election results, the Arizona Capitol Times reported.
“I’ve said several times: Arizona is a good government state,” Ducey said in a November 2020 interview, the Arizona Republic reported. “I trust our election system. There’s integrity in our election system. Joe Biden did win Arizona.”
Since Ducey certified the election results, Trump has repeatedly lashed out at the Republican governor and pledged to oppose his candidacy in the GOP primary race if he runs against Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in 2022.
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