Former president Donald Trump issued a statement Sunday that appeared to acknowledge his efforts to get former Vice President Mike Pence to "overturn the election" and "change the outcome."
“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 desperately trying to pass legislation that will not allow the Vice President to change the results of the election?" Trump said in the statement, apparently referring to efforts to reform the Electoral Count Act, to spell out that the vice president can't unilaterally flip states.
"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 said.
Responding to Trump's statement, conservative attorney George Conway of the Lincoln Project wrote: "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."
The New York Times' Maggie Haberman wrote that Trump was "saying the quiet part out loud about overturning an election."
More below.
Trump now describing his push to overturn the electoral results as a push to overturn the electoral resultshttps://twitter.com/maggienyt/status/1487936513690284035\u00a0\u2026— Allan Smith (@Allan Smith) 1643587645
I don\u2019t follow what he says as closely as I did during the #ToddlerinChief days but it\u2019s interesting that he says \u201coverturned the Election.\u201d That sounds really bad.pic.twitter.com/5vkLU8G5Es— Daniel W. Drezner (@Daniel W. Drezner) 1643587036
It\u2019s right there in the Eastman memo: Pence, in his/Trump\u2019s view, was to \u201cbreak with the procedures\u201d of the Electoral Count Act.pic.twitter.com/lqcvqp8k03— Kyle Cheney (@Kyle Cheney) 1643588280
Could anyone near the 45th President open the Constitution and read aloud the 12th Amendment? The rhetoric is dangerous, ignorant and irresponsible.pic.twitter.com/nWQofmmrHo— Ron Christie (@Ron Christie) 1643587658
Trump not getting the hint from McConnell to stop talking about the 2020 election.pic.twitter.com/Qpdyvz8iJ1— Blake Hounshell \ud83d\udfe9\ud83d\udfe9\ud83d\udfe9\ud83d\udfe9\ud83d\udfe9 (@Blake Hounshell \ud83d\udfe9\ud83d\udfe9\ud83d\udfe9\ud83d\udfe9\ud83d\udfe9) 1643587904
Electoral Count Act update: failed burglar says hotel management's move to strengthen room locks proves he had a right to push his way in.https://twitter.com/realLizUSA/status/1487937248138088450\u00a0\u2026— Walter Olson (@Walter Olson) 1643588421
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://twitter.com/realLizUSA/status/1487937248138088450\u00a0\u2026— Gregg Nunziata (@Gregg Nunziata) 1643587955
Trump admits *in writing* he wanted Pence to \u201coverturn the election.\u201dhttps://twitter.com/reallizusa/status/1487937248138088450\u00a0\u2026— Paula Chertok\ud83d\uddfd (@Paula Chertok\ud83d\uddfd) 1643587932
When you tell on yourselfhttps://twitter.com/reallizusa/status/1487937248138088450\u00a0\u2026— \ud835\udde6\ud835\uddf8\ud835\uddf6\ud835\uddfd\ud835\uddfd\ud835\uddf2\ud835\uddff \u201c\ud835\udde6\ud835\uddee\ud835\uddf3\ud835\uddee\ud835\uddff\ud835\uddf6\u201d \ud835\udde6\ud835\uddf5\ud835\uddee\ud835\uddfb\ud835\uddf2 (@\ud835\udde6\ud835\uddf8\ud835\uddf6\ud835\uddfd\ud835\uddfd\ud835\uddf2\ud835\uddff \u201c\ud835\udde6\ud835\uddee\ud835\uddf3\ud835\uddee\ud835\uddff\ud835\uddf6\u201d \ud835\udde6\ud835\uddf5\ud835\uddee\ud835\uddfb\ud835\uddf2) 1643587721
It\u2019s good of him to confess.— Ron Filipkowski (@Ron Filipkowski) 1643588293
Funny, @TwitterSafety just told me that this is in the past so they aren\u2019t enforcing their rules against 2020 election disinfo anymore. Weird.https://twitter.com/rothschildmd/status/1487946877790134274\u00a0\u2026— Joshua Holland (@Joshua Holland) 1643589811
