US may need new party for ‘moderate conservatives’, says veteran Republican

A former Republican senator and defense secretary has suggested it may be time for moderate conservatives to form a new political party as he launched a withering attack on the lawmakers supporting Donald Trump's bid to overturn the election result.

William Cohen, who represented Maine before taking up the defense role in the Clinton administration in 1997, said there is now "a real division" within the GOP and compared Mr Trump's backers in Congress to circus elephants trying to please their "ringmaster".

His comments came after Missouri senator Josh Hawley announced that he will challenge Congress's certification of president-elect Joe Biden's election victory on 6th January.

Despite losing both the electoral college and popular vote, Mr Trump and his legal team continue to insist that the election was "rigged". But Trump team is yet to present any credible evidence that mass voter fraud took place on election day.