SC’s AG Alan Wilson: Biden is legitimate, Pence had no power to overturn election

South Carolina’s Attorney General Alan Wilson, one of a group of Republican attorneys general who challenged Joe Biden’s victory in the Nov. 3 presidential election, said Monday he accepts Biden as the duly-elected legitimate president of the United States.

“Absolutely. Yes, I do,” Wilson told reporters Monday following a press conference in the State House lobby.

Wilson, who came under fire over the weekend for being a member of a national group that sent robocalls in support of President Donald Trump’s efforts to delegitimize the election, said those robocalls were unauthorized by him or any of the group’s leadership and that “administrative action” is likely to be taken against those responsible.

Late Monday, Adam Piper, the executive director of the group that sent the robocalls, the Rule of Law Defense Fund (RLDF), resigned, according to a spokesperson with Wilson’s office. The RLDF is the policy arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), of which Wilson is also a member.

Earlier Monday, Wilson made it clear that he agrees that Vice President Mike Pence had no authority last week to overturn Biden’s election and give the election to Trump in a joint session of Congress last Wednesday.

At that session, Pence’s role was limited, despite claims by Trump on social media and at a Wednesday rally in Washington just before Pence was to preside over the joint session where Pence was supposed to open and count the Electoral College ballots.

Trump had tried to convince Pence not to count the legitimate electoral votes from battleground states and begin a process that Trump hoped would eventually give him the electoral win over Biden, according to news accounts.

Pence refused to do this and — after a mob of hundreds of Trump supporters ransacked the Capitol and forced members of Congress to flee to underground safety rooms for safety — eventually Congress reconvened, at which time Pence counted the rest of the electoral votes which called the election for Biden, 306-232.

”I absolutely agree with the vice president’s position that his role was purely ceremonial,” said Wilson, who is the state’s top elected legal official. His office has significant influence over the interpretation and enforcement of various civil and criminal laws.

That ceremonial role should never again be questioned, Wilson said.

“Vice President Mike Pence lacked the constitutional authority to do anything but open (the Electoral College votes) and count,” Wilson said. “There are a lot of people out there who believe differently, ... but no evidence has been presented in a court by the Trump campaign or by anybody — to my knowledge — that says differently.”

As for Trump’s widespread claims that the election was “rigged” in Biden’s favor, Wilson said, “I believe that Vice President Biden was legitimately elected and certified this past week in Congress.”

Wilson was questioned about Trump’s claims Monday because a Rule of Law Defense Fund had sent out robocalls last week urging Trump followers to come to Washington last Wednesday to try to overturn Biden’s election and “Stop the Steal,” a phrase used by Trump to imply that Pence had to power to overturn the election.

But Wilson on Monday denounced the robocalls as an improper political action by the RLDF that should not have happened. The RLDF is a policy group of a more prominent group to which Wilson belongs — the Republican Attorneys General Association.

Wilson said he did not know about the robocalls and asserted that they were instigated by RLDF staff without his knowledge.

“I would have been vehemently opposed,” he said.

Wilson is on the executive committees of both RAGA and the RLDF, and none of the dozen or so elected Republican attorneys general he has spoken to approves of the robocalls, he said.

Wilson said “administrative action” is likely to be taken against those responsible for sending out the robocalls.

The RLDF robocalls that were sent out encouraged “patriots” to join last Wednesday’s “March to Save America” and urge Congress to “stop the steal” were first reported by Documented, an investigative reporting group. The robocalls did not call for violence or suggest that the Capitol should be stormed.

Wilson first challenged Biden’s victory in December, when he became one of 16 Republican state attorneys general who signed on to an amicus brief in a Texas lawsuit aimed at overthrowing Biden’s victory in several battleground states The Texas legal action before the high court raised questions about possible fraud, the accuracy of the vote totals in four states and whether those states’ Legislatures were denied their constitutional role in overseeing voting by mail. By its existence, the Texas lawsuit helped amplify falsehoods being spread by Trump and Trump’s lawyers on Twitter and elsewhere, in which the president and his lawyers claimed without evidence there had been widespread election fraud that resulted in Biden winning the election.

In November and December, Trump’s lawyers filed more than 50 lawsuits claiming fraud in battleground states, nearly all of which were dismissed in various state and federal courts. The U.S. Supreme Court also rejected the Texas lawsuit appeal over the state election law issues. Moreover, Trump’s former Attorney General William Barr had his federal agents and prosecutors scour the nation for election irregularities but found none.

For weeks, Trump has flooded his social media with sensational but false claims that he had been the victim of a plot by Biden and the Democrats to steal the election. After last week’s riots, social media giants Twitter and Facebook revoked his privileges to tweet and post. Amazon has also shut down Parler, a social media site where numerous fringe conspiracy theories were spread. The companies said they have policies about allowing people to post opinions that promote violence.

On Monday, Wilson said his group was justified in joining the December amicus brief because it raised serious legal questions about whether elections in certain battleground states were constitutionally valid.

Since then, courts - including the U.S. Supreme Court - have found no merit in Trump’s numerous election fraud lawsuits, Wilson said he accepted those results. Basically, Trump and his lawyers produced no evidence about election fraud for courts to consider, Wilson said.

“I want everyone to calm down across the political spectrum,” Wilson said. “What happened last week was an inflection point in our nation’s history. When I saw those people charge the Capitol, I started off being sad, and then it turned to anger. The rule of law was lost last week.”

People have the right to protest, “but you do not have the right to tear down people’s property, to attack a symbol of democracy,” Wilson said. “I don’t care if you are on the left or the right. Go out and protest, I support that. But don’t turn it into criminal activity.”

This story was originally published January 11, 2021 at 2:55 PM.