George Stephanopolous Asks GOP Senator 'Why Can't You Accept the Results' of Presidential Election

On Sunday, ABC News' George Stephanopoulos interviewed Indiana Sen. Mike Braun, asking why he and [...]

By Michael Hein

On Sunday, ABC News' George Stephanopoulos interviewed Indiana Sen. Mike Braun, asking why he and other Republicans continue to question the results of the 2020 presidential election. Stephanopoulos pointed out the severe lack of evidence for President Donald Trump's conspiracy theories about election fraud, wondering why Braun and other lawmakers would stake their careers on these claims.

"As I said, Joe Biden's victory has now been certified in states totaling 279 electoral votes. So do you now accept that he's president-elect?" Stephanopoulos asked directly. Braun answered: "So whether we dismiss it reflexively, whether we would find widespread fraud, there's a wide gulf in between. And I think that when you just say that there's nothing there, you're going to have half of the country uncertain about what just happened and disgruntled going into the future." However, Stephanopoulos pressed on with hard facts.

Stephanopoulos refused to let up on the issue, forcing Braun to confront the lack of evidence in his case, despite numerous recounts, audits and lawsuits in battleground states. "So the process has played out, hasn't it? And there's no evidence of widespread fraud. Why can't you accept the results?" he asked.

Braun tried to bring up a widespread conspiracy theory based on a video from Georgia, which has been reliably disproven. Stephanopoulos interjected: "There wasn't anything wrong shown in that video at all. So you're just throwing out a claim out there."

In spite of the journalist's pushing, Braun did not let up, insinuating that it was Democrats who are "undermining a democracy," not the other way around. He said: "All I can tell you is if you don't at least give a perfunctory kind of investigation into it, whether it's Dec. 14 and what happens beyond, you're going to have a good part of the country — it's over 50 percent — that view that something is amiss. And that's going to carry forward in terms of undermining a democracy."

The president continues to spread conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election in his speeches and online, including many that have now been disproven. His commitment to these stories is now being treated by many analysts as an intentional disinformation campaign, meant to maintain the level of uncertainty and confusion Braun referred to. Still, the fact remains that President-elect Joe Biden will assume office next month as the 46th president of the United States.

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