AP
Washington Hispanic:
Vice President Mike Pence challenged President Donald Trump early Thursday morning by affirming the victory of President-elect Joe Biden in November, ending Trump’s futile efforts to subvert American democracy and overturn the election results.
In a move that infuriated Trump and left his own political future far less certain, Pence acknowledged Wednesday that he did not have the power to unilaterally cast votes electoral colleges such as Trump and some of his lawyers had wrongly insisted.
Pence, when the session came to a close, said that the count “will be considered a sufficient statement” of Biden’s victory, but he offered no words of congratulations to the incoming administration. An extraordinary day of chaos, violence and division culminated after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, sending lawmakers into hiding and delaying proceedings.
Under normal circumstances, the vote counting procedure would be a mere formality, the last step in the complicated technical process of electing a new administration. But after losing a court case after a court case and with no other options at hand, Trump and his allies had zeroed out on January 6 as their last chance to settle to try to influence the outcome.
They spent days in a futile offer trying to convince Pence that the vice president had the power to turn down the voters of the battlefield states who voted for Biden, even though the Constitution makes clear that the vice president’s role in the joint session is largely ceremonial, much like a master of ceremonies.
Pence acknowledged that reality in a lengthy statement Wednesday setting out his conclusion that a vice president cannot claim “unilateral authority” to reject the electoral votes of the states.
“I consider that my oath to support and defend the Constitution obliges me to claim authority unilateral to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which it’s no, ”Pence wrote in a letter to members of Congress that was published shortly before he delivered the joint session of Congress. Soon after, the angry mob swept through the Capitol, overwhelmed the police, and halted the proceeding that had been underway.
Pence’s move was an expected result, but one that sculpted a dramatic rift between Trump and Pence, his once most loyal lieutenant. On a dramatic splitscreen, Pence released the statement just after arriving at the Capitol to count the votes and as the president told thousands of supporters gathered near the White House that Pence could override them if he wanted.
“If Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election,” Trump mistakenly told supporters, who later marched through Washington and stormed the Capitol. He repeatedly returned to Pence throughout his speech, expressing frustration as he tried to pressure the vice president to line up.
“Mike Pence is going to have to pick us up. And if he doesn’t, it’s a sad day for our country, “he said.
Trump, who has spent the past two months refusing to acknowledge his defeat, later tweeted his disapproval .
«Mike Pence did not have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our Constitution, giving States the opportunity to certify a corrected set of facts , not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones that they were asked to previously certify, ”he wrote. “USA. demand the truth! “
” I’ve known Mike Pence forever, “Republican Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma told Tulsa World. “I’ve never seen Pence as angry as he was today.”
“He said, ‘After all the things I’ve done (Trump) for,'” Inhofe added.
Despite the claims of Trump and his allies, there was no widespread fraud in the elections. This has been confirmed by a number of election officials and by William Barr, who resigned as Trump’s attorney general last month. Neither Trump nor any of the lawmakers who opposed the scrutiny have presented credible evidence that would change the outcome.
While Pence’s allies had made it clear that he intended to challenge Trump and afflicting the Constitution, the vice president’s move was nonetheless a significant deviation for a man who has spent the past four years defending the president at every turn and carefully avoiding his going.
Trump spent much of Wednesday consumed by anger over Pence’s action, including as violent protesters lashed at the U.S. Capitol, forcing lawmakers into hiding and halting proceedings, according to a White House official who spoke only. On condition of anonymity to discuss internal affairs.
Pence was taken out of the Senate chamber to safety as protesters raided the building. Pence never left the Capitol, according to his chief spokesperson, and was in “regular contact” with the leaders of the House and Senate, the Capitol Police, and the defense and justice departments throughout the ordeal.
“The violence and destruction taking place in the United States Capitol must stop and must stop now,” Pence later tweeted. “Anyone involved must respect the law enforcement officers and immediately leave the building.”
After the House and Senate reconciled hours later, Pence reopened the procedure and returned to the task of opening the electoral vote certificates of each state and presenting them to the designated «escúyimos» of the House and Senate in alphabetical order.
After hours of nominal calls and debates, announced the contest winners Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris; formalizing his defeat and that of Trump.