Watch: Michigan senator calls out his own committee for giving ‘a platform to conspiracy theories and lies’

Although the results of the 2020 presidential election were certified by the Electoral College on Monday, December 14 and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell acknowledged Joe Biden as "president-elect" and Sen. Kamala Harris as "vice president-elect" the following day, the GOP-led Senate Homeland Security Committee held a hearing on election "irregularities" on Wednesday morning, December 16. And one of the Democrats on the Committee, Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, forcefully called out Senate Republicans for giving a "platform to conspiracy theories and lies."

President Donald Trump and his legal team have yet to acknowledge Biden as president-elect, continuing to claim, without evidence, that Trump really won the election and was deprived of a victory because of widespread voter fraud. But Biden's victory was decisive: the former vice-president won 306 electoral votes and defeated Trump by more than 7 million in the popular vote.

At the Homeland Security hearing, Peters — who was reelected in November and will begin his next term in January — told fellow senators, "The president and many of his supporters are, unfortunately, continuing their efforts to undermine the will of the people, disenfranchise voters and sow the seeds of mistrust and discontent to further their partisan desire for power. Whether intended or not, this hearing gives a platform to conspiracy theories and lies. And it's a destructive exercise that has no place in the United States Senate."

The Michigan Democrat, wearing a protective face mask, continued, "Joe Biden won the election more than five weeks ago with 306 electoral votes and received the most popular votes for a presidential candidate in American history. All 50 states and the District of Columbia have certified those results. The Electoral College met Monday, and all affirmed that Joe Biden will be the president on January 20, 2021. It's a result that the majority of the American people recognize, along with the leaders of more than 150 countries around the world. Yet even after all of that, significant numbers of Republican elected officials have been slow to publicly acknowledge that Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States."

The witnesses who were asked to appear at the Homeland Security hearing included right-wing attorney Ken Starr, who was part of Trump's impeachment defense team, and Republican Chris Krebs. Before Trump fired him, Krebs headed a cybersecurity agency at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security — and Trump has been furious with Krebs for saying that there was no sign of the widespread voter fraud and that the 2020 election was the most secure in U.S. history.