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WASHINGTON, D.C., January 7, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — In a speech delivered during Congress’s certification of the 2020 electoral votes last night, Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz (FL) doubled-down on his strong condemnation of “systematic,” “repeated” election fraud.
“We came here today to debate, to follow regular order, to offer an objection, to follow a process that is expressly contemplated in our Constitution, and for doing that we got called a bunch of seditious traitors,” Gaetz said.
“Now, not since 1985 has a Republican president been sworn in absent some Democrat effort to object to the electors, but when we do it, it is the new violation of all norms, and when those things are said, people get angry,” the Florida lawmaker continued.
“People do understand the concepts of basic fairness, and no competition contest or election can be deemed fair if the participants are subject to different rules,” he said.
For months, watchdog groups like the Amistad Project have charged swing states officials with creating a “two-tiered system” that overwhelmingly benefited Democratic voters in 2020.
The Amistad Project has argued that “local election officials in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and other states created a two-tiered election system by accepting private funds,” “in the form of strings-attached grants that imposed strict conditions on the way recipient jurisdictions managed their elections.”
The group found that a non-profit funded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg contracted with officials across battlegrounds states, disbursing tens of millions of dollars almost exclusively to Democratic areas, likely illegally.
“This fraud was systemic, it was repeated, it was the same system, and I dare say it was effective,” Gaetz said.
“We saw circumstances where, when Democrat operatives couldn’t get the outcomes they wanted in state legislatures, … they went and pressured and litigated and usurped the constitution with extra constitutional action of some officials,” he also noted.
As outlined repeatedly by LifeSiteNews, state administrators, courts, and other officials fundamentally altered election procedure in various states, circumventing the constitutional authority of state legislatures.
Rep. Gaetz added that “this election saw an unprecedented amount of votes that could not be authenticated with true ID, with true signature match, and with true confidence for the American people.”
In Wisconsin, for example, state election officials encouraged voters to mark themselves as “indefinitely confined” due to COVID-19, allowing them to skip photo ID requirements. Although courts subsequently ruled against this approach, over 100,000 voters may have obviated legal safeguards inappropriately as a result.
“In 2016, Democrats found out that they couldn’t beat Donald Trump at the ballot box with voters who actually show up so they turned to impeachment and the witness box, and when that failed, they ran to the mailbox,” Gaetz continued.
“Our Article III courts have failed by not holding evidentiary hearings to weigh the evidence. We should not join in that failure. We should vindicate the rights of states,” he said. “We should vindicate the subpoenas in Arizona that have been issued to get a hold of these voting machines, and we should reject these electors.”
Gaetz’s speech was met with applause from his GOP colleagues, over 60% of whom voted against Biden electors.