Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) on Wednesday appeared to signal her allegiance to President Donald Trump by failing to condemn his reportedly impending claim that her colleagues, Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), were elected via fraud.
Fox News chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram asked Lummis if she believes Ossoff and Warnock were elected legitimately in 2020.
Lummis paused awkwardly and said, “I don’t know.”
Trump will give a primetime address to the nation Thursday and is expected to reiterate baseless claims about fraud in the 2020 election, which he continues to insist was rigged, and present new claims.
The MAGA leader is expected to allege Ossoff and Warnock, who won runoff contests Jan. 5, 2021, to give Democrats control of the Senate, were illegitimately elected.
The two were elected one day before Trump’s election denialism spurred loyalist MAGA voters to storm the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.
Trump has repeatedly made mention of running for a third and unconstitutional term, confirming last year, “I’m not joking” — and arguing earlier this year that it would be his “reward” for enduring supposed fraud during the 2020 election against Biden.
Ossoff reacted Monday on X to a report that Trump will target him in his speech.
He wrote, “Donald Trump’s spiral continues. The failed president, pocketing billions as he drives up prices, is afraid to lose the midterms. So he will reheat debunked election conspiracy theories and tell bizarre new lies to deny his 2020 defeat and attack voting rights.”
The senator on Wednesday also grilled Jay Clayton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, during a confirmation hearing — and asked him point-blank whether Trump or Joe Biden won the 2020 election.
Ossoff couldn’t get a straight answer.
“You refuse to answer a basic question about who won a presidential election, but you ask to lead America’s intelligence community?” Ossoff told the Trump nominee. “Isn’t it humiliating to be unable to answer this question, to have to indulge the president’s delusions?”