SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Dec. 11, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — Thousands of Utahns are signing an online petition calling for the impeachment of Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes.
The petitioners claim Reyes misused the powers of his office when he unilaterally added Utah to a pending lawsuit by Republican Texas Attorney General Tom Paxton asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The petition drive circulating on Change.org was posted Thursday morning with a goal of attracting 5,000 online supporters. By late Thursday afternoon the call for Reyes’ impeachment began picking up steam and surpassed the 5,000 petitioner mark by Friday morning.
Reyes’ decision has drawn the ire of Utah’s top politicians, including Gov. Gary Herbert and Gov.- elect Spencer Cox, both of whom said they were not consulted and learned of Reyes’ actions by way of the media. In a joint press statement Wednesday they condemned Reyes’ actions and questioned his intentions, calling the controversial move a waste of Utah taxpayers’ money.
During a live press conference Thursday both men continued to criticize Reyes and cast doubt on the merits of a case they say has virtually no chance of success, regardless of Utah’s participation.
“Utah’s involvement will not change the outcome of that lawsuit in any way. That would all happen whether or not Utah got involved,” Cox said. The current Lt. Governor, who is also an attorney, said the case for election fraud had yet to be made. “I know there’s a lot of evidence on YouTube and the interwebs. I’ve looked into it. It’s all been debunked. I keep waiting for the smoking gun that has been promised. I’ve yet to see it.”
Word of Reyes’ surprise decision came in a Wednesday afternoon press release saying Utah had joined a “coalition of attorneys general” from 17 states supporting the Texas petition “to review the constitutionality of the election process.”
The states joining in the Texas suit include Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi. Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Minnesota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia.
All of those states were carried by Trump.
The pending lawsuit, filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, claims votes in the swing states of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin violated the Constitution when authorities changed balloting procedures in response to the pandemic. That duty, Paxton asserts, belongs to the state legislatures, meaning the votes were cast illegally and should be thrown out.
“If Americans are to have confidence in the integrity of the election system, it is important the Supreme Court settles the question of who determines the time and place for voting: the legislature or the courts,“ Reyes said.
Trump officially joined the fray in a filing late Wednesday before the U.S. Supreme Court, with his legal team echoing the Texas suit’s contention that the swing state votes should be voided. He was joined Thursday by more than 100 Republican members of House.
Attorneys for the swing states filed pointed responses ripping the Texas lawsuit. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro called the move seditious. “Texas’ efforts to get this Court to pick the next President has no basis in law or fact. The Court should not abide by this seditious abuse of the judicial process and should send a clear an unmistakable signal that such abuse must never be replicated.”
Reyes has avoided the Utah media since his surprise announcement, and instead flew to Washington, D.C. Thursday, where he attended a luncheon with Trump, Texas AG Ken Paxton, and nine other attorneys general involved in the suit.
Reyes’ staffers claimed the trip had been “arranged a while ago” as part of a scheduled meeting by the Republican Attorneys General Association.
(Developing)
Reyes needs to resign. He does not uphold his oath or democracy. When will the people of Utah stop electing these same types of officials
S Reyes shud B removed from office for involvement in other states. Also Paxton is a criminal in office for his actions he has self enrichment.
We need to get to the bottom of this, so the people of the US can feel the election process is honest. I support Reyes!
I definitely would like to get to the bottom of this. As it stands now we can’t believe anything that is being said and will not be able to any time soon.
Naoma not our dime.
Get rid of Sean Reyes.
No matter how he tries to spin it, Sean Reyes is clearly using his state position to promote his own personal political agenda. First he volunteered to help Trump’s legal team reverse the Nevada vote results, then he tried to help flip the vote for Trump in 4 other states – all without support from the Governor, Governor-Elect, or citizens of Utah. He’s paid to work for us, not the other 49 states. He should be fired.
So Naoma – you believe the retrumplicans without any evidence at all? Why? The congress people signing to overturn OUR DEMOCRACY are COWARDS and need to suffer CONSEQUENCES! They dumped their country for trump and VIOLATED THEIR OATH! Now, they cannot be TRUSTED! Reyes needs to vacate the AG job or be IMPEACHED! How can he hold the AG job when he demonstrated he doesn’t support the CONSTITUTION nor our DEMOCRACY.
I support Sean Reyes. And, there is so much evidence of fraud, vote switching, and non-transparency. To say it’s been debunked is not only a lie, but now tells me we should be taking a closer look at Spencer Cox. He’s not even Gov yet, and we may have just elected a RINO.
The impeach Reyes petition is now over 25K signatures as of 12/15.
Now how do you Trumpsters feel? Still want this man as our AG? He followed the idiots down the yellow brick road and here we are, almost a week after the assault on our Capitol. All those who supported Trump during this entire post election lie, should be held accountable. Resign, Sean. It’s in the best interest of our state. You embarrassed us, didn’t get permission from Gov or Lt. Gov, just acted on your own. You represent Utah, not the president! Soon to be ex….
Reyes has never been Utah AG he has hurt more people than helped. Of course Herbert and Cox want to keep him he takes cases to the Supreme Court ACA case Public Lands he spent more time in Washington than Utah. President Trump counts on me remember late for the debate while people were voting so he could be sure he won he works for the Governor and legislature why we even pretend and vote is just stupid.