Trump is still deluded Pence can steal him the election — and could turn on him in fury: report

On Tuesday, The Washington Postreported that outgoing President Donald Trump is still clinging to a baseless legal theory that Vice President Mike Pence can throw the certification of the electoral count to him on Wednesday — and Pence's team is bracing for the president to turn on him when that doesn't happen.

"Vice President Pence and his team have huddled for hours with the Senate parliamentarian. They have studied historical examples of other vice presidents who have presided over election results," reported Ashley Parker and Josh Dawsey. "And they have begun anticipating the ire of President Trump — likely to come in the form of angry tweets — in the aftermath of Wednesday's certification of the electoral college vote count before a joint session of Congress."

Legal experts broadly agree that Pence only has a ceremonial role in the vote-counting prescribed by the Constitution, and cannot make any decisions to challenge electors. Nevertheless, Trump reportedly has an insular circle of advisers telling him otherwise.

"The president's faulty belief that Pence can somehow overturn the election results is being fueled by agitators who are feeding Trump misinformation, said several people in touch with the president and the White House, who along with some others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the relationship between Trump and Pence," said the report. "The group includes Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president's personal attorney; Peter Navarro, a top White House trade adviser; and Sidney Powell, a lawyer and Trump ally."

The controversy over Pence comes as dozens of Republican senators and representatives plan to launch protests of their own against the election results in swing states that flipped to President-elect Joe Biden — a measure that is similarly doomed.