Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) on Tuesday praised former acting Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccinelli for rebuffing a request from former President Trump to seize voting machines following the 2020 presidential election.
Thune said he was relieved that Cuccinelli and other officials pushed back against Trump’s effort to seize voting machines in an attempt to change the outcome of the election, which President Biden won by 74 electoral votes and more than 7 million votes nationwide.
“I’m just glad that there were people in the right places and that the system worked,” he said. “People who had positions of responsibility held their ground even when being asked to do things that they knew they shouldn’t do. Things may have bent a little bit, but they didn’t break.”
Thune made his comments when asked about a story published by The New York Times reporting that Trump wanted his lawyer Rudy Giuliani to ask the Department of Homeland Security if it could legally take control of voting machines in key swing states. The report cited three people “familiar with the matter.”
The Times reported that Cuccinelli said Homeland Security officials could not take part in the plan.
It also reported that Trump asked Cuccinelli in another meeting about the idea of appointing a special counsel to investigate election fraud, with Cuccinelli replying that it was not a good idea. The report cited “two people briefed on the conversation.”
Thune was one of several Republican senators who pushed back against the former president’s reported actions and statements about the outcome and aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.
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No. 2 Senate Republican praises election official for standing up to Trump https://t.co/1Zqg9kP152 pic.twitter.com/uksH16PNYp
— The Hill (@thehill) February 2, 2022
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