Pelosi says House is prepared to decide president if election results are disputed

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told NPR on Monday that Congress is prepared to decide the presidential election if the results are disputed.

“We understand what the law is and the preeminence of the role of Congress and specifically the House of Representatives when it comes to counting the votes,” Pelosi said in an interview with the public radio station.

Should the presidential election not present a clear winner by electoral vote, then it is up to the House to choose the next president.  

“We’re ready. We’re prepared. We’ve been ready for a while because we see this irresponsibility of the president, his disrespect for the Constitution, for our democracy and for the integrity of our elections. So we’re ready for him,” Pelosi said.

A report in Axios on Sunday indicated that President Trump was planning to declare victory on election night should results show him in the lead. The president disputed that report to reporters on Monday but continued to criticize some states being allowed to count ballots beyond Election Day.

“I think it’s a terrible thing when ballots can be collected after an election. I think it’s a terrible thing when people or states are allowed to tabulate ballots for a long period of time after the election is over because it can only lead to one thing,” Trump said.

Trump has repeatedly called into question the validity of mail-in ballots compared with absentee ballots and in-person voting. His campaign and other Republicans have disputed the notion of some states being allowed to count ballots received after Election Day.

When asked about the Axios report, Democratic nominee Joe Biden said, “My response is the president is not going to steal this election.”