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Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday he would decline President Donald Trump’s request to try to block confirmation of the election of Joe Biden as the next President of the United States by Congress.
Pence said in a letter that he does not believe, as Trump asserted, that a vice president has the unilateral power to reject electoral college votes for a candidate.
His dramatic break with Trump came minutes before the vice president began presiding over a joint session of Congress, which meets to declare Biden the winner.
“I believe my oath to support and defend the Constitution prevents me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not,” Pence said in a three-page letter to to “Dear colleague”.
“Given the controversy surrounding this year’s election, some approach this year’s quadrennial tradition with great expectation, and others with disdainful disdain,” Pence wrote.
“Some believe that as a vice president I should be able to unilaterally accept or reject electoral votes. Others believe electoral votes should never be contested in a joint session of Congress. After careful study of our Constitution, our laws and our history, I do not believe that any view is correct.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence chairs a joint session of Congress to count the electoral votes for the president at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
As Pence released his statement, Trump was speaking at a rally outside the White House, where he reiterated his call for the Vice President to overturn Biden’s election. Trump and his allies claim, without evidence, that he and Pence lost to Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris due to widespread electoral fraud in a handful of states that gave Biden his margin of victory.
“Mike Pence, I hope you will stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country, and if you are not I will be very disappointed in you, I will tell you right away,” Trump said at the rally.
“I don’t hear good stories.”
Several courts have dismissed Trump’s allegations of electoral fraud and irregularities.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the vice president’s letter.
This is the latest news. Check back for updates.
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