[ad_1]
“The vice president has the power to reject fraudulently chosen voters,” Trump said incorrectly on Tuesday, giving credence to a flawed theory that Pence can overturn the election results during the electoral college vote count on Wednesday and again pressuring his superior lieutenant to act. outside constitutional limits.
His post came the morning after Trump raised a crowd of supporters in Georgia using Pence’s upcoming Senate pledge.
“I hope Mike Pence will come for us, I have to tell you,” Trump said Monday night at a political rally in Georgia, where his public twist was greeted with cheers. “Of course, if he doesn’t pass, I won’t love him that much.”
It was a direct message to a vice president whose defining political characteristic remains his unwavering loyalty to Trump. How Pence proceeds on Wednesday as he presides over the certification of the electoral college tally could determine his future relationship with the man he served loyally, even in times of political peril.
While on his way to Florida for his vacation last month, Trump retweeted a call from one of his supporters in Pence to refuse to ratify the Electoral College results on January 6 – a prospect that captivated his imagination even if it remains completely impossible.
Pence and White House aides have attempted to explain to him that Pence’s role is more of a formality and that he cannot unilaterally reject Electoral College votes. Pence guided Trump in his largely procedural role in hopes of minimizing the pressure on him, a strategy that doesn’t appear to have worked given the president explicitly urged him to act Monday night without saying exactly what he wanted let Pence do.
Trump or Pence’s aides hardly expect him to turn away from his constitutionally mandated role.
“He will follow the law and the Constitution,” said a person familiar with the matter.
Undeterred, Trump still seems impressed with the idea and hasn’t stopped asking Pence how he could somehow reverse or prevent Biden from being certified a winner, according to people familiar with the conversations.
“He’s a wonderful man and a smart man and a man I love very much but he’s going to have a lot to say about it,” Trump said Monday. “You know one thing about him. You’re going to get free kicks. He’s going to call her straight.”
Procedure
Traditionally, the vice-president presides over the certification of the electoral vote, although this is not a requirement. In 1969, then-vice-president Hubert Humphrey did not preside over the process as he had just lost the presidential election to Richard Nixon. The president pro tempore of the Senate presided instead.
A source close to Pence said it was not seen as a good option for Republican Senator Chuck Grassley – the current pro tempore president – to be there in Pence’s place on January 6.
Pence and Trump were seen meeting in the Oval Office on Monday with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump before Trump left for Georgia. According to Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, the couple were due to discuss how they would proceed on January 6.
“This decision has to be made by the president and the vice president, and they are meeting today and doing all the research – they probably won’t make that decision by tomorrow,” Giuliani said on a podcast hosted by Charlie. Kirk, a conservative activist.
Giuliani ticked off several questions that he characterized as constitutional questions that he said Pence and Trump would discuss. He framed the move as a move for Trump and Pence – although the president made it clear that he believed Pence should somehow act to prevent certification, and Pence, privately, explained that his role was only ceremonial.
On Sunday, Pence met for a long session with Senate MP Elizabeth MacDonough in her office right next to the Senate. Marc Short, Pence’s chief of staff, who was also on Capitol Hill and at one point seen walking into the office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, denied that the purpose of the meeting was to find a way to cancel the results of the electoral college.
“No,” Short said. “We’re just meeting each other.”
Asked why he was meeting with the parliamentarian, Short said they were “trying to figure out the exact process”.
Presidential indignation
Yet procedure and process can hardly protect Pence from the outrage of a president who still believes the election was stolen from him and who was fed plots over the results of a bunch of fringe advisers.
Even as recently as this weekend, Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro claimed on Fox News that Pence had the power to back down on inauguration day, contrary to the Constitution.
Last month, Trump offered tacit approval for the lawsuit brought by his Republican ally, Republican Louie Gohmert, pressuring Pence to overturn the election results and was subsequently disappointed to learn that his own ministry Justice was asking a judge to dismiss the trial, according to a familiar person. with matter. Trump and Pence discussed the issue late last week.
Trump for weeks told his associates he didn’t think Pence was fighting hard enough for him. This frustration is in part what prompted Pence’s chief of staff to issue a statement on Saturday evening, saying he welcomed efforts by Congress to raise objections to the Electoral College, although several noted that it seemed carefully worded and did not say he supported the objections up front.
“Vice President Pence shares the concerns of millions of Americans about voter fraud and irregularities in the last election,” Short wrote. “The Vice President applauds the efforts of members of the House and Senate to use their authority under the law to raise objections and present evidence to Congress and the American people on January 6.”
Speaking at his own Georgia rally on Monday, Pence gave little information on his thoughts on January 6, even as he reinforced Trump’s false allegations of election fraud.
Instead, he kept his remarks vague.
“I know we all have our doubts about the last election,” he said. “I want to assure you, I share the concerns of millions of Americans about the irregularity of the vote. I promise you, come this Wednesday, we will have our day in Congress, we will hear the objections, we will hear the evidence.”
Pence didn’t say what happened next.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins and Pamela Brown contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
Source link