Jim AcostaDec 24, 2022

The provisions amending the 1887 law — which has long been criticized as poorly and confusingly written — won bipartisan support and would make it harder for future presidential losers to prevent the ascension of their foes, as Trump tried to do on Jan. 6, 2021.

https://apnews.com/article/biden-donald-trump-e4366ca9e350ef87ebbb7638517cbde3

Congress approves new election rules in Jan. 6 response

Congress on Friday gave final passage to legislation changing the arcane law that governs the certification of a presidential contest, the strongest effort yet to avoid a repeat of Donald Trump's violence-inflaming push to reverse his loss in the 2020 election.

Associated Press
Show thread2xfoDec 24, 2022
@acosta
I don't think this functionally changes anything except to cast doubt on whether what Trump and company did to steal the election was actually illegal when they did it. The fact that Congress still refuses to press charges or do anything forceful only underlines that impression.
Show threadMatt Schwartz

@RnDanger @acosta

The legislative branch can't file charges. Only the executive can as they're the branch of law enforcement.

Dec 24, 2022 at 3:54pmWeb
Show thread2xfoDec 24, 2022

@randomschmoe @acosta
True. Maga will not care what is proper though. This will be a point against us in their mind.
I'm hopeful that the 20% rule will have an impact, but I don't know if the new law will change anything in 2 years when 10 states can conspire to overcome that threshold.

Right now I expect this news will be used to lend credibility to the idea that what they did was not illegal at that time.