What Was Said

“All of the people who claim that the 2016 election wasn’t legitimate, all of the people who claimed in 2004, with a formal objection in the Congress, that that election wasn’t legitimate, and in fact, objected to the point where they said that the voting machines in Ohio were tampered with and that President Bush was selected, not elected — and not to mention former presidents of the United States and secretary of states, Hillary Clinton, Jimmy Carter and a whole slew of House Democrats who repeatedly led the nation to believe — lied to the nation, that they said Russia selected Donald Trump as president, that the election was completely illegitimate — all of that was allowed to pass, but yet, once again, we see a criminalization when it comes to Donald Trump.”
— Representative Michael Waltz, Republican of Florida, on CNN on Wednesday

This is deceptive. Mr. Trump’s supporters have lengthy argued that Democrats, too, have objected to election outcomes and pushed allegations of voting malfeasance. None of the objections cited, although, have been paired with concerted efforts to overturn election outcomes, as was the case for Mr. Trump.

Democratic lawmakers objected to counting a state’s electors after the elections of current Republican presidents in 2001, 2005 and 2017. In 2001 and 2017, objecting House members have been unable to discover a senator to signal on to their objections, as is required, and have been overruled by the vice chairman. In 2005, two Democrats objected to counting Ohio’s electoral votes. The two chambers then convened debate and rejected the objections.

In every case, the shedding candidate had already conceded, didn’t attempt to overturn election outcomes and didn’t attempt to persuade the vice chairman to halt proceedings as Mr. Trump is accused of doing in 2020.

Mrs. Clinton has stated repeatedly that Russian interference was partly accountable for her defeat within the 2016 presidential election. But she just isn’t accused of attempting to overthrow the outcomes of the election. Prosecutors haven’t detailed any involvement on her half in a multifaceted effort to remain in energy, together with by organizing slates of false electors or pressuring officers to overturn voting outcomes.