Social media users are sharing content claiming that Vice President Mike Pence has resigned as of December 31, 2020. This claim is untrue.
Examples can be seen here and here.
One report reads: “Pence immediately resigned as vice president. That’s why Trump and Pence both canceled their New Year’s plans recently. Pence does not agree with the direction of the election challenges and does not want to be put under pressure to reject the voters. Believe me or not, I do not give a [expletive]. It happens. ”
The image was dated 31 December 2020 and appears to be a screenshot of a message board thread. The user who posted the message does not provide any evidence or sources for the claim.
Trump, who has repeatedly made unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud in the presidential election, has put Pence under pressure to unilaterally reject state election votes to block the election of President Joe Biden by Congress. Pence refused, saying he did not have the power to do so (here).
Hundreds of supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday, with four people dying in the chaos.
On January 7, 2021, Pence confirmed Biden’s presidential victory. A video of this can be seen here and here. This is a clear indication that he did not resign from his position as vice-president at the end of December.
Pence was active on Twitter and continues his duties as seen twitter.com/Mike_Pence and twitter.com/VP .
A search in Factba.se, a source that contains consolidated releases through the White House’s social media accounts, and statements factba.se/topic/latest, mention nothing that Pence resigned.
Politwoops, a ProPublica project that deletes archives of politicians, also shows no record of Pence resigning here.
The resignation of a Vice President of the United States would be reported by major news organizations around the world. Reuters did not find such reports.
Reuters Fact Check earlier dismissed the allegation that Pence was arrested after Trump supporters broke into the U.S. Capitol building here on January 6.
VERDICT
Untrue. Vice President Mike Pence did not resign at the end of December 2020 and has remained in office since the publication of this article on January 7, 2021.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.