Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) is continuing his push to reverse the results of the presidential election by trying to legally force Vice President Mike Pence to override the electors when votes are finalized by Congress on Jan 6.

In a legal brief filed this morning, attorneys for Gohmert responded to Pence's argument that they should have sued the House and the Senate, not the vice president in his presiding role.

Gohmert's attorneys wrote that there are 140 House members who are expected to object to the congressional certification of the Electoral College vote on Wednesday.

"On January 6th, a joint session of Congress will convene to formally elect the President. The defendant, Vice-President Pence, will preside. Under the Constitution, he has the authority to conduct that proceeding as he sees fit," they wrote.

"He may count elector votes certified by a state's executive, or he can prefer a competing slate of duly qualified electors. He may ignore all electors from a certain state. That is the power bestowed upon him by the Constitution."

Gohmert's attorneys say Gohmert and the "over 140" House members will object on Wednesday due to "mounting and convincing evidence of voter fraud."

"For over a century, the counting of elector votes and proclaiming the winner was a formality to which the prying eye of the media and those outside the halls of the government paid no attention. But not this time," they wrote.

"This country is deeply divided along political lines," the filing adds. "This division is compounded by a broad and strongly held mistrust of the election processes employed and their putative result by a very large segment of the American population."

A small group of Michigan's GOP would-be electors also intervened in the case, and a Biden elector from Colorado did the same in support of Pence.

-ABC News' Meg Cunningham

The Senate voted on Friday to override President Donald Trump's veto on the defense spending bill in a rare New Year's Day session.

The stinging rebuke by members of Trump's own party represents the first time in his term that a veto has been overturned.

The vote was 81-13. A supermajority is needed to override a presidential veto.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, confirmed today that Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, called the upcoming joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, which will affirm the results of the presidential election, "the most consequential vote" of his lengthy tenure.

"I see that as a statement that he believes it's a -- it's a referendum on our democracy," Romney told reporters.

Sources said that McConnell asked Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., on a New Year's Eve call with Republicans to explain to his colleagues why he is planning to object to the certification of Biden’s electoral win during the joint session. McConnell had privately warned his colleagues weeks ago against doing this as it would put his conference in the position of having to oppose Trump (and thereby his base) publicly.

Hawley, in joining the last-ditch bid by Trump's House allies to overturn the election results, said he objected to states not following their election laws.

"At the very least, Congress should investigate allegations of voter fraud and adopt measures to secure the integrity of our elections," Hawley said in a statement. There has been no evidence of widespread election fraud.

-ABC News' Trish Turner

In a very rare New Year’s Day session, Senate GOP leadership rejected two attempts to debate and vote on the House-passed CASH Act, which would give most Americans $2,000 in direct COVID relief payments. It was an effort by both Sens. Chuck Schumer and Bernie Sanders.

Republicans are continuing to argue that the House bill —- which would allow those making up to $350,000 to receive some cash under the act, albeit a smaller amount than those making less -- amounts to "socialism for the rich."

The chamber’s socialist, Sen. Sanders -- continued to argue that Republicans were “hypocrites” —- blocking this effort but approving big tax breaks for the rich.

He was joined by conservative Sen. Josh Hawley, who slammed the fight by his own leadership.

“With all due respect, this doesn’t seem to be Republicans against Democrats. This seems to be the Senate against United States of America,” said Hawley.

-ABC News' Trish Turner

Biden took aim at Trump in remarks following a briefing on national security and foreign policy, slamming the current administration for failing to fully cooperate with his agency review teams during the transition -- which Biden argued could leave the country vulnerable.

While commending his own agency review teams for their hard work amid a transition that was already made more challenging by COVID-19, Biden pointedly called out Department of Defense and White House Office of Budget and Management political appointees for, he said, not cooperating for a smooth transition.

"And the truth is many of the agencies that are critical to our security have incurred enormous damage. Many of them have been hollowed out in personnel, capacity and in morale," Biden added.

Later in his remarks, Biden stressed the need for cooperation during the transition, noting that it is a matter of national security to ensure there are no gaps that adversaries can seek to exploit when he takes office.

"We need full visibility into the budget planning under way at the Defense Department and other agencies in order to avoid any window of confusion or catch-up that our adversaries may try to exploit," Biden said. "Right now, we just aren't getting all the information that we need from the outgoing administration in key national security areas. It's nothing short, in my view, of irresponsibility."

Biden said other "Day One" challenges discussed in the briefing will draw on the skill sets of the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency as they aim to "clean up the humanitarian disaster that the Trump administration has systematically created on our Southern border."

"We will institute humane and orderly responses. That means rebuilding the capacity we need to safely and quickly process asylum seekers, without creating near-term crises in the midst of this deadly pandemic," Biden said.

As he exited the stage at the Queen Theater in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden was asked if he supports the measure for $2,000 direct payments to Americans for COVID-19 relief, which the House will soon vote on. He responded with one word: "Yes."

-ABC News' Molly Nagle, Sarah Kolinovsky and Beatrice Peterson