SECONDNEXUS
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More than a year after President Joe Biden's inauguration, former President Donald Trump continues to make unhinged statements falsely claiming that the 2020 election was "stolen" from him through Democrats engaging in widespread election fraud.
Between the election in November and the inauguration in January, Trump and his allies unleashed a multifaceted effort to subvert the election results and install him for another term. After all states certified their electoral votes and demands to toss electoral votes of swing states Trump lost repeatedly failed in court, their final effort revolved around the January 6 joint congressional session certifying Biden's victory. As President of the Senate, Vice President Mike Pence was to oversee the proceedings.
In the weeks before, Republican party members in multiple swing states Trump lost baselessly declared themselves electors and forged electoral certificates declaring victory for Trump, sending the certificates to the National Archives. Though these electoral certificates had no validity whatsoever, Trump publicly pressured Pence to declare there were two dueling slates of electors and therefore none of the states' electoral votes would be counted, citing the Electoral Count Act of 1887. There's growing evidence that the Trump campaign itself orchestrated the forgery of these certificates.
Fortunately, Pence reached the same conclusion as the vast majority of legal scholars: that the Vice President has no constitutional right to unilaterally throw out electoral votes of his own election. Now, calls have grown in Congress to reform the Electoral Count Act and remove any room for debate that a Vice President can singularly decide a presidential election.
In a statement shared by his spokeswoman, Trump claimed efforts to reform the Electoral Count Act were proof that the Vice President can do just that.
NEW!
President Donald J. Trump:
“If the Vice President (Mike Pence) had “absolutely no right” to change the Presidential Election results in the Senate, despite fraud and many other irregularities, how come the Democrats and RINO Republicans, like Wacky Susan Collins, are... pic.twitter.com/9kz05Jwi7y
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) January 30, 2022
Saying the quiet part out loud, Trump wrote:
"Actually, what they are saying, is that Mike Pence did have the right to change the outcome, and they now want to take that right away. Unfortunately, he didn’t exercise that power, he could have overturned the Election!”
Trump openly admitting that he wanted Pence to overturn the election generated backlash on social media.
Trump uses language he knows caused the Jan 6 violence; suggests he’d pardon the Jan 6 defendants, some of whom have been charged with seditious conspiracy; threatens prosecutors; and admits he was attempting to overturn the election.
He’d do it all again if given the chance.
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) January 31, 2022
“He could have overturned the election.”
Prosecutors thank you for that admission. It will be helpful evidence as they evaluate your true intent. https://t.co/ChNRa0Jp0t
— Daniel Goldman (@danielsgoldman) January 31, 2022
"...overturned the Election!" https://t.co/yLbxc0M37k pic.twitter.com/YlvVEeLfto
— Connor Eyer (@ConnorEyer2) January 31, 2022
Tonight, Donald Trump made clear that his intentions for January 6th were to have Pence overturn the 2020 election.
His statements show intent and, in my opinion, should push the needle much closer to indictment.
— Aaron Parnas (@AaronParnas) January 31, 2022
Trump is admitting here that he lost the election and was scheming to overturn the results.
Sadly, the simple fact that he's publicly discussing it -- and not, say, getting caught on a secret tape -- will lead many in the media to downplay this admission. https://t.co/xFhP1kTuiY
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) January 31, 2022
In case there was any lingering doubt about whether President Trump really did want his vice president to overturn the results of the 2020 election and keep him in power despite having lost -> pic.twitter.com/h2gAelWTYL
— Brad Heath (@bradheath) January 30, 2022
Others cleared up Trump's confusion on the efforts to reform the Electoral Count Act.
The answer is: The Twelfth Amendment and the Electoral Count Act of 1887 already make it entirely clear that the Vice President merely opens the envelopes. But sometimes we want to make laws even clearer so that even semiliterate psychopaths have a chance at understanding them. https://t.co/MZojqccN5G
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) January 31, 2022
Unusually unhinged for the disgraced former president. No, the vice president doesn't have the power to reverse an election. Yes, it would be good to clarify that. The opposite position is that Kamala Harris should be empowered to second guess the electoral votes of red states. https://t.co/GjY8Wi18TL
— Gregg Nunziata (@greggnunziata) January 31, 2022
If Pence had declared the right to overturn the election, it would have required him to also declare the Electoral Count Act unconstitutional and ignore it. Nothing about seeking to reform the Electoral Count Act to clarify the VP’s role admits Pence ever had that power. pic.twitter.com/iFKx8yrUmh
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 31, 2022
The former President is considered the favorite to win the Republican party's nomination in 2024.