Two of the most prominent Republicans in Washington defied Donald Trump’s last-gasp effort to nullify Joe Biden’s victory, with the party’s leader in the Senate warning that “democracy would enter a death spiral” if Congress overturned the result.
Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate majority leader, said the presidential election was “not actually particularly close” and that if the challenge by the president’s allies were successful it “would damage our republic forever”.
His address on the floor of the Senate came as Vice-President Mike Pence also refused to participate in Mr Trump’s scheme to overthrow the election result, arguing he lacked the authority to tamper with the vote count in the outgoing president’s favour.
“My oath to support and defend the constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not,” Mr Pence wrote in a letter to members of…