Sen. James Lankford to Newsmax TV: Media 'Twisting' My Role

The media's hailing a Republican Senate committee leader's "stepping in" Friday to get Joe Biden intelligence briefings was a "twisting" of the story, according to Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., on Newsmax TV.

"It's been interesting how the media – national media, not this network but others – have twisted this term 'step in,'" Lankford, who chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, told host Rob Schmitt on Saturday night's special election coverage.

"This is race is not even close to being counted yet," Lankford added. "So what I said I was going to step in on Friday is: How are you doing it? What are your metrics? How are you making decisions? What is the process? Those are the basic things. That's basic oversight, what a member of the Senate would do.

"And other networks blew this up, saying 'Oh my gosh, there's this Republican senator that's now shifting away and is reporting Joe Biden now to be president or opposed to the president," he continued.

"It's the furthest thing from the truth, what was actually or is going on."

It is the Government Services Administration's job to "ascertain" who the winner of the election is.

"Ascertain can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people," Lankford told Schmitt. "So, they've got to work through the process. As the oversight person for them, I am engaging in the process with them to help them work through this process."

Lankford does admit Biden was receiving intelligence briefings when he was officially the Democratic nominee, so he should still get intelligence briefings "until we know who the winner is."

Ultimately, the lack of meaningful observation in Pennsylvania is very problematic constitutionally, Lankford said.

"They were allowed to watch the count from 100 feet away and you can't watch the count from 100 feet away," Lankford said, noting his state of Oklahoma counted its ballots in five hours and states who have had issues "need to fix their election law."

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