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The Department of Justice on Thursday asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit aimed at pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election results, pitting the department against President Trump’s allies in Congress who refused to accept President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr the victory.
The department, acting on Mr Pence’s behalf, said Republican lawmakers, led by Representative Louie Gohmert of Texas, could not strike down the century-old law that governs the Electoral College process to expand a an otherwise ceremonial role to a role which has the power to reject electoral votes cast for Mr. Biden.
In a final attempt to overturn the election result, Mr Gohmert, along with other Congressional Republicans and Arizona voters, filed a lawsuit against Mr Pence on Sunday in an attempt to force him to assume this expanded role. . As President of the Senate, Mr. Pence has the constitutionally appointed responsibility for opening and counting the envelopes sent by the 50 states and announcing their election results when Congress meets next week to certify the count. But changing his role would allow Mr Trump to pressure his vice president to invalidate the results.
The Justice Department has also made it clear in its filing that it welcomes any comments from federal judge in the case, Jeremy D. Kernodle of the Eastern District of Texas, which would clarify that Mr. Pence’s role in the election was purely procedural.
White House attorney Pat A. Cipollone and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows knew the Department of Justice was testifying on Mr. Pence’s behalf before this happened, according to two people briefed on the discussions.
If a judge made it clear that Mr Pence does not have the power to reject votes or decide the results, it could ease the pressure on him. Since the November election, Mr. Trump has focused particularly on the work of the Electoral College. He cut short his vacation at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to return to Washington early, at least in part to push Republican lawmakers to reject the results when they meet on Jan.6 to count the votes.
If Judge Kernodle confirms that Mr. Pence has no influence on the electoral college votes, the prosecution of Mr. Gohmert could have the opposite effect of the intended effect.
In its response, the ministry also stated that Mr. Gohmert did not have standing to prosecute Mr. Pence for having performed the functions defined by law; rather, he and the other plaintiffs should sue Congress, which passed the original law.
The Justice Department’s decision to crush an 11-hour attempt to undo Mr. Biden’s victory could put it further at odds with Mr. Trump.
The President is furious that former Attorney General William P. Barr refused to support Mr. Trump’s false allegations of widespread electoral fraud and instead asserted Mr. Biden’s victory.
Mr Trump’s relationship with Mr Barr, whom he once considered his cabinet’s greatest ally, deteriorated further after the president learned he had held a secret investigation into the tax affairs of the son of Mr. Biden, Hunter Biden. during the election. Although the department has a policy of not discussing investigations that could affect the outcome of an election, Mr. Trump has accused his attorney general of disloyalty for not publicly disclosing the case during the campaign.
And in his final press conference, Mr Barr said he “saw no reason to appoint a special advocate” to oversee a tax investigation into young Mr Biden or to dig into unsubstantiated allegations that Mr Trump had lost due to electoral fraud.
Some within the ministry believed that Mr. Barr’s statements could have helped Jeffrey A. Rosen, the acting attorney general. Mr Rosen is likely to face enormous pressure from the president to appoint additional special advisers and use the department’s other powers to help him reverse Mr Biden’s victory.
But now the department under Mr. Rosen has taken a step that Mr. Trump could see as an open act intended to thwart one of his allies, opening him up to possible retaliation.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice declined to comment.
Michael S. Schmidt contribution to reports.
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