Mike Pence defies Trump's warnings and says he won't steal the election for him

Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday defied President Donald Trump's demands that he steal the election from President-elect Joe Biden.

In a statement released just before Congress's hearing to certify Biden's victory, Pence explained why he could not carry out Trump's demands to refuse to accept the final vote totals.

"Our Founders were deeply skeptical of concentrations of power and created a Republic based on separation of powers and checks and balances," the vice president said. "Vesting the VP with unilateral authority to decide presidential contests would be entirely antithetical to that design."

Earlier on Wednesday, Trump publicly pressured Pence to reject the results of the election and send them back to GOP-controlled state legislatures, which would then supposedly change the results in the president's favor.

"Mike Pence, I hope you're gonna stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country," the president said during a rally in Washington D.C. "And if you're not, I'm going to be very disappointed in you, I will tell you right now. I'm not hearing good stories."