Tens of Thousands Rally in Washington to Demand Election Integrity

President Trump's supporters stage a rally in Washington, on Dec. 12, 2020. (Larry Dai/The Epoch Times)

WASHINGTON—Tens of thousands of people converged on the U.S. Capitol and the Supreme Court on Dec. 12—waving American flags, wearing red, white, and blue, and blaring horns—to take part in rallies calling for greater transparency in the 2020 election.

People traveled to Washington from all over the country to show their support for President Donald Trump. Many said the election process was handled improperly and is fraudulent. Some are optimistic that the tide will turn. Still others see this election as a battle between good and evil.

“Courts do not decide who the next president of the United States will be,” former national security adviser Michael Flynn said. “There are paths that are still in play.

“We are in a crucible moment in the history of the United States of America.”

The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 11 rejected Texas’s bid to challenge the 2020 election results in four battleground states. Justices ruled that the Lone Star State lacked legal standing—or capability—to sue under the Constitution because it hasn’t shown a valid interest to intervene in how other states handle their elections.

“We’re only asking to just show us a little transparency,” said Flynn, who spoke outside the Supreme Court and later at Freedom Plaza. “Why not recount? Why not look at the signatures? Why not look inside these [voting] machines? Why not? What are they afraid of?”

Flynn called himself a “product of an unjust system” and said the current battle for the election “is about the fabric of the constitution of the United States of America.”

Trump on Nov. 25 pardoned Flynn after a years-long case relating to the Russia investigation. Flynn had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about speaking to a Russian diplomat during Trump’s 2016 transition period. But Flynn, a retired three-star Army general, withdrew his plea before sentencing.

Different events, marches, and rallies took place throughout the day, starting from 9:30 a.m. Participants often shouted “Stop the steal,” a common slogan among Trump supporters and the name of a grassroots movement.

The barrage of rallies came before the Dec. 14 deadline for the Electoral College vote.

At around noon, Trump flew over Freedom Plaza in Marine One as he headed north to West Point in New York to attend the annual Army–Navy football game.

“Wow! Thousands of people forming in Washington (D.C.) for Stop the Steal. Didn’t know about this, but I’ll be seeing them!” Trump said in a Twitter post in the morning.

Sebastian Gorka, who served as deputy assistant and strategist to Trump in 2017, said what’s at stake is more than just a single election.

“If we don’t stop the theft of this election, then we will never ever have a free and transparent election again in America,” he told The Epoch Times. “There is a rot at the core of American institutions and it’s up to us to make a difference.”

Gorka, who spoke at Freedom Plaza, said he believes the state legislatures now play the largest and most significant role.

“The constitution is clear: It’s not CNN, it’s not governors, it’s not the Supreme Court. It is the statehouses in America,” he said. “The statehouses cannot certify a clearly fraudulent election.”

Legal Challenges

Several legal challenges are underway that contest the results of the election. Attorney Lin Wood has filed an appeal to the Supreme Court asking the justices to review his case, which argues Georgia’s 2020 presidential election was “unlawful.”

His request to the nation’s top court was filed on Dec. 8, shortly after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit upheld a decision to dismiss his case due to the lack of legal standing to bring the case. The Supreme Court docketed Wood’s petition for a writ of certiorari—the request to review the case—on Dec. 11.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court recently agreed to hear an appeal by the Trump campaign over a challenge to the result of the presidential election recount in Milwaukee and Dane counties.

Georgia State Rep. Vernon Jones, a pro-Trump Democrat, urged his colleagues in the State Legislature to take a stand.

“They need to support a free, fair, and transparent election,” Jones told The Epoch Times at Freedom Plaza. “They need to be vocal about it. It’s not about certification. It’s about rectification.”

Georgia on Dec. 7 recertified its election results for Democratic nominee Joe Biden following a recount, although Coffee County said it can’t certify its results after the second statewide recount because it wasn’t able to duplicate the official result on its voting machines.

“I call on the secretary of state [of Georgia] to get it right, and we need to go into a special session as well,” Jones said.

Mike Lindell, founder and CEO of MyPillow, implored people to stand up and speak out about their concerns about the election.

“We need to get the word out today that this fraud is real,” Lindell told The Epoch Times at Freedom Plaza. “We’re in a spiritual battle, this country.”

He urged people to not lose hope after the Supreme Court’s ruling, saying there are several other legal cases going ahead that are aimed at disputing the election results in battleground states.

“Everyone’s going to see it. The whole world is going to see it,” Lindell said, referring to the evidence of election fraud produced in these lawsuits.

Republican Doug Mastriano, a Pennsylvania state senator who hosted the first public hearing regarding election integrity, told The Epoch Times that his office has heard from thousands of people across Pennsylvania about various election irregularities, such as being denied entry to polling places and being told that they mailed in a ballot when they hadn’t.

Mastriano said the Republican Party as a whole needs more courage going forward

“We’re on the side of righteousness, and we need to fight forward politically, and not just roll over.”

But he has faith that the tide is turning.

“We’re seeing courage rising. And it’s not too late. It’s never too late,” he said.

Battle Between Good and Evil

More than a dozen faith leaders joined the rally and spoke to the crowds at the “Let the Church ROAR!” prayer event on the National Mall. Their message reflected the spiritual aspects of the battle for election integrity.

Pastor Leon Benjamin, like many other speakers, saw a battle of good versus evil playing out in the election before him.

“What’s going on right now is that our nation has been infiltrated by ideologies [that] did not come from our founding fathers,” he told The Epoch Times.

“Marxism, socialism, we call it communism, which is a form of government that robs the power away from the people. And literally, communism cannot exist, where there are God-fearing people, even the Marxists know.”

Benjamin, who is a Republican, ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Virginia’s 4th Congressional District. He challenged the result in court after losing the race to his contender.

“This is totally a ‘We the People’ moment. And I’m telling you that if American men don’t start acting like American men, we’re going to have to live our lives like Chinese men under communist control,” Pastor Brian Gibson told the Epoch Times.

“So it’s a pivotal moment. It’s good versus evil. And it’s not Republican versus Democrat. It’s American versus communist.”

Emel Akan and Charlotte Cuthbertson contributed to this report.