Gov. Phil Murphy spoke out against Republicans in Congress who have indicated they will reject the certification of the results of the presidential election Tuesday if a commission is not put together to investigate voter fraud.
“It is a shameful, dangerous, undemocratic and unpatriotic display,” Murphy said. “A number of congressional Republicans are openly and unabashedly working to undermine our constitutional norms.”
Murphy, speaking at his COVID-19 briefing Monday, said the political process has been turned so upside-down that there now is a need to applaud those for doing what many think is simply the right thing to do.
“I commend the Republicans who have shown the courage of their convictions to say what’s right,” he said. “But we’ve lost something greater when simply acknowledging the will of the people after the election is considered courageous. Shame on those who have not found any semblance of courage.”
Murphy said he was stunned by the actions of President Donald Trump, during his recent phone calls with Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state of Georgia — which were released over the weekend. In the recordings, Trump can be heard urging Raffensperger to “find” enough votes so he could win Georgia — a state he lost by about 12,000 votes in the final tally.
“An American president is sitting in the Oval Office, working the phones to subvert American Democracy for his personal benefit,” Murphy said. “Let that sink in for a minute … the voters have spoken, our election officials have spoken, the courts have spoken and the Electoral College has spoken. And, yet, that seemingly isn’t enough.”
Murphy saved some of his sharpest criticism for New Jersey’s U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who ran as a Democrat in 2018 before running as a Republican in 2020.
Van Drew (R-2nd Dist.) published a piece on savejersey.com where he said his objection was due to the way Trump’s supporters have been treated.
“I will be voting against certifying this past November’s presidential election,” Van Drew said in the piece. “My vote is a rejection of the status quo and a no-confidence vote in the politicians, corporate special interests and legacy media establishment who continually mock Americans as naive, stupid or conspiracy theorists for demanding answers to these important questions.”
Murphy said he feels Van Drew is letting New Jerseyans down.
“It pains me in particular to see one of our own representatives (vote against the results),” Murphy said. “He has cynically sided with conspiracy theorists and has thrown his fate in with the far right’s disproven and crackpot series. If that’s the legacy that Jeff wants, I guess it is what it is.”
