Rep. Elise Stefanik was recently removed from Harvard University's Institute of Politics advisory board.
In a statement Tuesday, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) slammed Harvard University's Institute of Politics for removing her from an advisory board.
Douglas Elmendorf, dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, the parent of the institute, had announced earlier in the day that Stefanik had been asked to step down from the institute's senior advisory committee. In a message posted on the school's website, he wrote, "Over the past several days, [institute director] Mark Gearan and I have spent a good deal of time considering the role at the Institute of Politics of our colleague Congresswoman Elise Stefanik ... Following this consideration, I spoke with Elise and asked her to step aside from the Senior Advisory Committee."
In response, Stefanik fired back in a statement of her own: "As a conservative Republican, it is a rite of passage and badge of honor to join the long line of leaders who have been boycotted, protested, and canceled by colleges and universities across America. The decision by Harvard's administration to cower and cave to the Woke Left will continue to erode diversity of thought, public discourse, and ultimately the student experience. The Ivory Tower's March toward a monoculture of like-minded, intolerant liberal views demonstrates the sneering disdain for everyday Americans and will instill a culture of fear for students who will understand that a conservative viewpoint will not be tolerated and will be silenced."
"Congratulations, Harvard," she concluded. "The entire Board of the Institute of Politics now consists only of Joe Biden supporters — how reflective of America."
However, Elmendorf's message specifies that Stefanik was not asked to step down based on her support for Trump, but for her public lies about widespread voter fraud: "My request was not about political parties, political ideology, or her choice of candidate for president. Rather, in my assessment, Elise has made public assertions about voter fraud in November’s presidential election that have no basis in evidence, and she has made public statements about court actions related to the election that are incorrect. Moreover, these assertions and statements do not reflect policy disagreements but bear on the foundations of the electoral process through which this country’s leaders are chosen."
For months, Stefanik has refused to acknowledge President-elect Joe Biden's win, hyping claims of voter fraud on social media. Last Wednesday, as Congress resumed certification of the results of voting in the Electoral College, she spoke in objection, continuing to push lies in the immediate aftermath of the attack on the Capitol.
She falsely claimed that there were widespread election irregularities and that 140,000 votes in a Georgia county were cast by "underaged, deceased, or otherwise unauthorized voters." She also made baseless claims that Michigan officials illegally backdated mail-in ballots and that officials in swing states were guilty of "constitutional overreach."
In a letter Stefanik released before the attack on the Capitol, she repeated debunked claims that Pennsylvania election officials "explicitly ignored and broke state election law" by removing signature-matching requirements and "arbitrarily" allowing late-arriving ballots to be counted, claims rejected by the Supreme Court.
In an interview with Newsmax in December, Stefanik falsely implied that voting machines running software made by the company Dominion were rigged.
Following the riot at the Capitol, New York's Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo called New York representatives who remained silent in the face of Trump's actions complicit in the attack.
"The question is: if you don't support who he is and what he did, ask him to resign. And if you don't ask him to resign, then you are complicit," Cuomo said. "Congresswoman Stefanik, you believe he should resign? Yes or no? And if they say they don't think he should resign, then yeah, you are complicit, you're part of it, you've condoned it. You're part of the mob."
Stefanik responded by calling Cuomo the worst governor in the country, writing, "Governor Cuomo continues to earn the title of the Worst Governor in America." She accused him of overseeing a "vaccination rollout disaster" and the "crippling of our small business economy in NY."
"He is the Emperor with No Clothes and he should resign and end his disgraceful reign of corruption and failed leadership," Stefanik wrote.
While some of Stefanik's constituents have demanded her resignation, days after the insurrection at the Capitol building, she continued to amplify Trump's election lies, retweeting a letter sent to a local paper applauding her objection to the electoral vote certification.
"The American people deserve a debate in the House of Representatives in order to call attention to the security of our election," the letter read. "If states like Pennsylvania ignore their own election laws, we must know more ... If our fellow American swear on a Bible that they saw irregularities, and testify before state legislatures, we must know more."
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
