On Wednesday morning, President Donald Trump tweeted a call to Mike Pence: “States want to correct their votes, which they now know were based on irregularities and fraud, plus corrupt process never received legislative approval. All Mike Pence has to do is send them back to the States, AND WE WIN. Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!”
This followed his tweet from late the previous night: “If Vice President @Mike_Pence comes through for us, we will win the Presidency. Many States want to decertify the mistake they made in certifying incorrect & even fraudulent numbers in a process NOT approved by their State Legislatures (which it must be). Mike can send it back!”
On Tuesday, the Trump campaign issued the following statement on the same topic:
“The New York Times report regarding comments Vice President Pence supposedly made to me today is fake news. He never said that. The Vice President and I are in total agreement that the Vice President has the power to act.
“The November 3rd election was corrupt in contested states, and in particular it was not in accordance with the Constitution in that they made large-scale changes to election rules and regulations as dictated by local judges and politicians, not by state legislators. This means that it was illegal.
“Our Vice President has several options under the U.S. Constitution. He can decertify the results or send them back to the states for change and certification. He can also decertify the illegal and corrupt results and send them to the House of Representatives for the one vote for one state tabulation.”
This is what the Trump campaign claims. But what does the Constitution say? The 12th Amendment states the following about the Vice President (in his role as President of the Senate): “The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted.”
Vice President Pence, before the Joint Session, insisted he would hear objections to the electoral votes, and have debate according to the law, but that he would not himself intervene into the process.
