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The discussion was “totally unrelated” to the eventual tweet, said a person familiar with the matter, although he did not specify whether the issue of the January 6 ratification came up in Congress. The two men went their separate ways for the holidays.
On Wednesday night, while flying to Florida for his vacation, Trump retweeted a call from one of his supporters for Pence to refuse to ratify the Electoral College results on January 6, a prospect that has captured his imagination even if it remains. completely. impossible.
Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, was with Trump aboard Air Force One before the president sent the tweet. Giuliani will join Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate over the holidays, where the men are expected to discuss their election efforts.
Trump has recently told people that Pence is not doing enough to fight for him when his presidency ends, and has recently taken an interest in Pence’s traditional role during certification. As president of the Senate, Pence presides over proceedings.
Sources say Trump in recent days has raised the matter with the vice president and has been “confused” as to why Pence cannot overturn the results of the Jan.6 election.
Pence and White House advisers have tried to explain to him that his role is more of a formality and that he cannot unilaterally reject Electoral College votes.
Traditionally, the vice president presides over the certification of the electoral vote, although it 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. Instead, the president pro tempore of the Senate presided.
A source close to Pence said it is not considered a good option for Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, the current president pro tempore, to be there instead of Pence on January 6.
On Tuesday, Pence spoke with a group of conservative youth in Florida, but did not directly address his next role. Instead, he told the crowd that as long as the White House continues to contest the election, “they will keep fighting until every legal vote is counted” and “every illegal vote is thrown out.”
“Stay in the fight for electoral integrity. Stay in the fight to defend everything we have done,” he said.
Earlier this week, Pence joined a meeting between Trump and a sizable group of House conservatives where the risky attempt to overturn the results of the January election was discussed.
The discussion centered on Trump’s unsubstantiated claims and conspiracies that he stole the election, participants said, and lawmakers emerged confident that there would be a contingent of House and Senate Republicans who would join the effort and spark a marathon debate on the floor about January 6 that would run to January 7.
The Republican leading the effort, Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks, said Pence attended “different parts” of the meeting.
“I think we have several senators, and the question is not if, but how many,” Brooks said, something that would challenge the wishes of Senate Republican leaders who are eager to move forward and are urging senators not to participate and to do so. it could force them to cast a politically toxic vote against Trump.
Brooks told CNN Monday night that they would seek to contest the election in at least six battlefield states, saying he needs to coordinate “up to 72” five-minute speeches that Republican lawmakers would make that day.
“That is an important task,” he said.
The effort is doomed to failure, but it would create a spectacle that Senate Republican leaders want to avoid. And if a member of the House and a senator oppose the results of six states, there would be at least 12 hours of debate, in addition to the time to cast votes on each of the motions, which could prolong the fight until the next day.
