Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) on Wednesday defended Sen. JD Vance’s (R-Ohio) move to dodge a question on whether Donald Trump lost the 2020 election in the vice presidential debate earlier this week.
During a segment focused on the state of U.S. democracy, one of the top issues for voters, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) pressed Vance to answer whether Trump lost the 2020 presidential contest.
“I’m focused on the future,” Vance said.
“That is a damning non-answer,” Walz shot back.
In an interview with CNN’s “The Source,” Emmer, who stood in for Walz in Vance’s mock debate sessions, said he was satisfied with how the Ohio Republican handled the question, appearing to blame the media for still focusing on Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
“He answered it,” Emmer said. “You don’t like the answer, but he answered it. This is something that you folks in the media want to focus on on a regular basis. The American people, and thank goodness JD Vance and Donald Trump, are focused on the election and how to fix this country.”
Collins: Did you talk about how to answer the 2020 question?
Emmer: Listen, he answered it. You don’t like the answer, but he answered it. This is something that you folks in the media want to focus on.. pic.twitter.com/g9vkqlpFGh
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 3, 2024
Emmer, who has previously falsely claimed there were issues with the 2020 race, was also among the Republican lawmakers who signed an amicus brief supporting Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit seeking to invalidate votes cast in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in an effort to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 victory. The Supreme Court tossed the lawsuit.
Still, Emmer eventually voted to certify the election result, saying at the time that “Congress does not have the authority to discard an individual slate of electors certified by a state’s legislature in accordance with their constitution.”
Asked if he stands by that assessment, Emmer lashed out at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins for bringing up the past election cycle.
“What are you doing talking about something that’s four years ago?” Emmer asked.
“Donald Trump is still talking about it,” Collins replied.
Trump has continued to baselessly claim the 2020 race was “rigged” against him even as special counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing Trump’s federal election interference case, has presented more evidence against him in a newly unsealed court filing.
“The release of this falsehood-ridden, Unconstitutional, J6 brief immediately following Tim Walz’s disastrous Debate performance, and 33 days before the Most Important Election in the History of our Country, is another obvious attempt by the Harris-Biden regime to undermine and Weaponize American Democracy, and INTERFERE IN THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION,” he wrote on this Truth Social platform Wednesday.
