Mike Pence 'rewrote the vice presidential script for publicly counting electoral votes' to refute Trump and his allies: report
According to a new report from POLITICO, before he certified the 2020 election results against then-President Donald's Trump's wishes, then-Vice President Mike Pence made a decision to "rewrite the vice presidential script for publicly counting electoral votes."
Speaking to POLITICO, Pence's former aides say he sent a "deliberate message" to Trump supporters about the reason he was refusing to introduce “alternate” slates of presidential electors, which his allies claimed was within Pence's power.
“It was a transparent effort to get in front of any accusations that there was any other slate that could’ve been legally accepted,” Pence's chief of staff Marc Short told POLITICO. “We were trying to be transparent with the American people. We figured there’d be confusion with this.”
Pence reportedly crafted the specific language he used during the session of Congress days before Jan. 6. Short says Pence wanted to emphasize long-settled laws and rules governing the counting of electors.
"While anyone can theoretically submit a slate of electors to Congress, authorities have long only considered those certified by state authorities — like governors and secretaries of state — to be legitimate. Pence wanted to make that explicit in his remarks," writes POLITICO's Kyle Cheney, adding that the new revelations show how "consciously" he resisted the pressure Trump exerted on him.
Read the full report over at POLITICO.
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