On Wednesday, Fox News chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram asked Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) a simple question: “In your mind, are Senators Ossoff and Warnock duly chosen and sworn?”
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“I don’t know,” she responded.
“You don’t know whether or not they are legitimately chosen as senators of the United States Senate?” Pergram pressed.
“There were concerns expressed not only about Georgia,” she persisted, “but about other states.”
Her response did not inspire confidence among Republicans hoping to leave Trump’s allegations of election fraud behind. As journalist Melik Abdul, who contributes to conservative outlets like Newsmax, Fox, and the Washington Examiner, put it, “We’re back to straddling the fence over the 2020 election as we fight to keep control of Congress? This can’t be happening. Why is this happening.”
Pergam asked Lummis about Senators Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Raphael Warnock (D-GA) due to rumors that President Donald Trump will allege the illegitimacy of their elections during a primetime address scheduled for Thursday. Trump has claimed that Georgia’s 2020 election was stolen, but state officials and audits repeatedly found these assertions to be false. Multiple investigations, recounts, and court reviews confirmed no evidence of widespread fraud that could have changed Georgia’s results. Now, Trump’s renewed fixation on denying the 2020 election has many legal experts warning it’s a sign of Trump’s growing “authoritarian” ambitions.
As Pergam was questioning Lummis, the confirmation hearing for Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence, Jay Clayton, was taking place, in which the issue of the 2020 election was raised again – this time by Ossoff, who asked Clayton, “Who won the 2020 election?”
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“I’m not going to get into that with you,” replied Clayton. Ossoff continued to press him on the matter, and Clayton snapped, “I think I’ve answered your question,” even though he had not. This repeated several times – Ossoff asking who won the 2020 election, Clayton insisting he answered, though he had not – until Clayton simply sat back in silence and refused to speak.
“This is so incredibly embarrassing,” posted conservative journalist Brad Polumbo in response to the exchange.
“Trump requires everyone who wants to advance under him to constantly engage in public displays of humiliation,” claimed Project 2025 contributor Richard Hanania, a former Trump supporter turned vocal critic.
“This is an absurd person to nominate to run DNI,” declared Republican strategist Tim Miller. “Anyone who voted to confirm him cares absolutely zero about our national security and does not deserve the responsibility of being a US senator.”
Conservative radio host Erick Erickson seconded the humiliation, posting, “This is embarrassing. Ossoff is going to cruise to re-election when the GOP does stuff like this.”
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