Republican congressman Byron Donalds was called out on air Sunday for inventing a “giant loophole” to avoid directly answering CNN host Dana Bash’s question about whether he would certify the results of the November presidential election.
After a mostly cordial interview on State of the Union, Bash turned to ask the Florida representative whether Congress should follow a law it passed in two years ago.
The new bill, which clarifies Congress’s role during the electoral count, was changed after Donald Trump exploited electoral procedures in an attempt to overturn the presidential result on January 6 2021.
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“When you are talking about the election this November, the thing that people want is that local jurisdictions follow the law passed by the states,” Donalds responded, failing to acknowledge Bash’s question. “As long as everybody does that, there‘s not going to be any problem certifying this election this November.”
Donalds, who clearly had not prepared to talk about laws on electoral counts, pivoted to ramble about what Trump could do for America.
“What really matters are the issues facing American people, not the electoral college counts act” he continued.
Frustrated by Donalds’ response, Bash struck back: “My question is are you going to follow the new law?”
“As long as states and jurisdictions follow election procedures in their states, there will be no problem for me or anybody on Capitol Hill,” Donalds repeated himself.
“Well, that’s a giant loophole that you are leaving there,” Bash said in shock as Donalds broke in to interrupt.
“That’s actually not a loophole, Dana,” he said. “If you look at what happened in Pennsylvania, Arizona, and other jurisdictions in 2020, they did not follow election procedures passed by the state legislature.
Bash shook her head, butting in to set the record straight.
“There’s no evidence of widespread fraud that went through, what, 60 court cases…”
“I did not say fraud, you said fraud,” Donalds interjected. “You had the state of Pennsylvania where the state Supreme Court said they would count ballots three days after the polls closed in Pennsylvania in 2020. That's a violation of state law passed by the legislature, signed by the governor, but that‘s what happened in the state of Pennsylvania.”
Bash swiftly drew the frosty interview to a close.
“This has been litigated and I‘m assuming that a lot more of it will be litigated. Let‘s just hope that everybody watches the votes counted and takes a breath and let them be counted, particularly in Pennsylvania, which doesn‘t start to count by law until Election Day.”
