Stolen election? Republican lawmakers paralyzed by Trump's false fraud claims

FILE PHOTO: Republican and Democrats clap while House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) commends Capitol Police and law enforcement for their work after rioters supporting President Donald Trump breached the U.S. Capitol, as the House of Representatives reconvenes to continue the process of certifying the 2020 Electoral College results in Washington, U.S., January 6, 2021. Erin Schaff/Pool via REUTERS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - On Jan. 6, right after the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, 147 Republican lawmakers voted the way then-president Donald Trump and the rioters had demanded - to overturn his election loss, after months of Trump’s baseless claims that the election had been stolen.

A month later, the Republican party remains paralyzed by that false narrative. Fully 133 of those lawmakers, or 90%, are now declining to either endorse or repudiate Trump’s continuing insistence that he was cheated by systemic voter fraud, according to a Reuters survey of all 147 lawmakers and a review of public statements they made to explain their votes against certifying the Electoral College results.