McConnell to Senators: Don't Challenge Election Result

After Monday's Electoral College vote, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has recognized Joe Biden as the president-elect—and he doesn't want members of his caucus to try to challenge the result. Sources tell Politico that in a call Tuesday, McConnell and other Senate GOP leaders warned caucus members that if a senator joined an objection to a state's results when Congress convenes Jan. 6 to certify the results, Republicans would have to take a "terrible vote" on the objection—and would risk being seen as against President Trump when they voted it down. Rep. Mo Brooks and several other House Republicans plan to challenge the results, but they will need the support of at least one senator to bring it to a vote.

Republican senators say nobody indicated during the call that they planned to object. "I think that there was encouragement on the phone for us to accept the result, as much as it's not what we, you know, would have envisioned for the next four years, and to try to do what's best for American people, which is to look forward," Sen. Shelley Moore Capito tells the Hill. Sen. Ron Johnson, who declined last week to rule out challenging the result, acknowledged Tuesday that Biden is the president-elect and said the election was legitimate. He told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, however, that he still plans to hold " a very upfront, straightforward hearing" Wednesday on alleged election irregularities. (More Election 2020 stories.)