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WASHINGTON: Despite pressure from US President Donald Trump to help reverse his electoral defeat, Vice President Mike Pence will adhere to his ceremonial duties and will not block the Wednesday (January 6) certification of the US Congress. President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, advisers said.
Trump increased pressure on Pence on Tuesday to block Congressional certification of the November election results in a continuing attempt to stay in power, after dozens of his campaign lawsuits challenging the outcome failed in US courts. .
The vice president, a loyal lieutenant during the four years of Trump’s often chaotic presidency, has no plans to intervene and has told Trump that he does not have the power to do so, even as he seeks to show support for the search for the Republican president. .
Pence will preside over a joint session of Congress on Wednesday when he receives state-by-state Electoral College results determining the winner of the presidential election.
Biden, a Democrat, beat Trump 306-232 in the Electoral College and in the popular vote by more than 7 million ballots. Trump has refused to grant the election.
The US states have already certified the results, and Pence’s role as Senate president on Wednesday is to “open all the certificates,” in the presence of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the US Constitution says.
Trump suggested that Pence could do more than that.
“The vice president has the power to reject fraudulently elected voters,” Trump wrote in a tweet, his latest unfounded suggestion that the election was marred by widespread fraud.
Pence told Trump on Tuesday that he did not believe he had the power to block the certification, according to a source familiar with the matter. The New York Times first reported the content of the conversation.
LEE: The loyal soldier Pence divided between Trump and the Constitution
In a statement released late Tuesday, Trump denied the report.
“The vice president and I fully agree that the vice president has the power to act,” Trump said. “Our Vice President has several options under the Constitution of the United States. You can uncertify the results or send them back to the states for change and certification. “
Trump’s statement and tweet put further pressure on Pence, whose future political prospects are largely tied to his ability to please the president’s base of supporters.
But advisers said Tuesday night that the vice president’s thinking about his role had not changed.
Trump’s lobbying campaign against his vice president took off at a campaign rally for Republican US Senate headlines in Georgia on Monday night when he expressed hope that Pence would take action.
“If he doesn’t make it, I won’t like him that much,” Trump said.
About a dozen Republican senators, as well as dozens of Republicans in the House, plan to oppose the certification of Electoral College results in Congress on Wednesday. The move has virtually no chance of nullifying Biden’s victory.
‘SUPPORT THE CONSTITUTION’
Current and former White House aides said the vice president planned to perform his ceremonial duties.
“He will be very supportive of the president, but again he will adhere to the Constitution,” a former White House official who has regular contact with Pence’s team told Reuters.
The vice president would make it clear that he backs Trump, while sticking to the limitations of the position, the former official said.
“It is a ceremonial role. It is to open envelopes and read their contents,” he said. “That’s.”
READ: In Georgia, Trump presses Pence, Biden promises a ‘new day’ with the second round of the Senate
Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, told Reuters on Monday that the vice president “will respect the constitution and follow statutory law.”
On Friday, a Trump-appointed judge rejected a lawsuit filed by Republican members of Congress asking Pence to reject the Electoral College results, saying they were not entitled to such a lawsuit.
A Trump adviser said the president had told others that he would like Pence to fight more for him.
The vice president has so far sought to express his support without repeating the president’s false claims about the election. On Monday, during his own trip to Georgia, Pence said Republicans’ objections to the election would be heard, but he did not commit to action.
“I share the concerns of millions of Americans about voting irregularities. And I promise you will come this Wednesday, we will have our day in Congress. We will hear the objections. We will hear the evidence,” he said.
Following a pattern throughout their association, Pence has kept Trump informed of his thinking. The former adviser said Pence likely guided the president through the restrictions on his role, informed by a weekend meeting with a congressional MP.
