- In a tweet early Wednesday morning, President Donald Trump wrongly went on to claim that Vice President Mike Pence has the power to block US election results.
- On Wednesday, Pence will chair a joint congressional session in which the election college’s votes will be read, and Pence is expected to elect Joe Biden as president.
- Trump believes he believes Pence can certify him as the 2020 election winner. In fact, the role of the vice president is largely ceremonial.
- The president also called a “fake news” report by the New York Times, which said that Pence had personally told Trump that the vice president could not influence the outcome of the election.
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As Vice President Mike Pence prepares to confirm Joe Biden as the next president of the United States on Wednesday, President Donald Trump continues to insist that his second commander can overthrow the election results and give him a victory .
In an early morning tweet Trump wrote on Wednesday: “If Vice President @Mike_Pence gets through to us, we will win the presidency.”
“Many states want to confirm the mistake they made in certifying incorrect and even fraudulent numbers in a process that was NOT approved by their State legislation (it should be),” he continued. “Mike can send it back!”
Trump’s claim that several states are trying to withdraw their certification of Biden’s victory is incorrect. He seems to be referring to a false claim, exhausted by right-wing outlet The Gateway Pundit, that Wisconsin wanted to erode itself and give Trump its election votes. Pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell also filed a lengthy lawsuit to confirm the Arizona election results, which Biden also won.
The president has in recent days expressed the conviction that Pence could throw away the election results when he presides over a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, where he wants to hear the results of the election college read out and then confirm Biden as the elected president.
Trump mistakenly believes that during this session Pence will have the power to throw out the results in several warring countries, where Trump – without proof – insisted that there was widespread voter fraud.
In fact, Pence’s role is mostly ceremonial. The New York Times compared Pence’s role in the ceremony to an Academy Awards presenter, who has the power to announce the winner but not to decide who wins.
This role put Pence at risk of angering Trump in the last days of the president and losing his support if Pence decides to elect him president in 2024.
The Times reported on Tuesday that Pence tried to explain to Trump during lunch that he had no real power to change the election results.
Trump later said in a statement to The Times that his coverage of the discussion was ‘fake news’.
“He never said that,” the statement continued. “I and the vice-president completely agree that the vice-president has the power to act.”
What is likely to go down on Wednesday is an hour-long process to finalize the voting results in each state.
A group of Republican lawmakers promised during the ceremony to challenge the outcome in several states and could force a vote.
But with the Democrats in control of the House, Republicans have no real chance of winning these challenges or changing the outcome of the election.
As of Wednesday, the Democratic Party has also regained control of the Senate, according to HQ projections that Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock won their Senate by-elections in Georgia.