Mike Pence Announces Whether He'll Reject Electoral College Votes
Vice President Mike Pence presides over a joint session of Congress to count the electoral votes for President at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Saul Loeb - Pool - AFP / Getty Images)
By Erin Coates
Published January 6, 2021 at 11:47am
In a letter to Congress Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence said that while he would make sure people’s concerns over the integrity of the election were heard, he believes he does not have “unilateral authority” to say which Electoral College votes should count.
“It is my considered judgement that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not,” Pence said.
“As presiding officer, I will ensure that any objections that are sponsored by both a Representative and a Senator are given proper consideration, and that all facts supporting those objections are brought before the Congress and the American people.”
Pence released his statement breaking with President Donald Trump prior to the joint Congressional meeting to count electoral votes for President of the United States.
The vice president noted that he shares the concerns of Americans about the integrity of the election and “will ensure that these concerns receive a fair and open hearing.”
“Objections will be heard, evidence will be presented, and elected representatives of the American people will make their decision,” Pence said.
“When disputes concerning a presidential election arise, under Federal law, is the people’s representatives who review the evidence and resolve the disputes through a democratic process.”
He added that our country’s founders created a separation of powers and checks and balances in the Constitution and said giving the vice president the power to decide presidential contests “would be entirely antithetical to that design.”
“I do not believe that the Founders of our country intended to invest the Vice President with unilateral authority to decide which electoral votes should be counted during the Joint Session of Congress, and no Vice President in American history has ever asserted such authority,” Pence said.
“Instead, Vice Presidents presiding over Joint Sessions have uniformly followed the Electoral Count Act, conducting the proceedings in an orderly manner even where the count resulted in the defeat of their party or their own candidacy.”
President Donald Trump continued to assert Tuesday and Wednesday that Pence had the power to decide which votes counted.
“The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors,” Trump tweeted.
“All Mike Pence has to do is send [votes] back to the States, AND WE WIN. Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!” he added.
Other Republican senators pushed back against attempts to undermine the election results, including Sens. Tim Scott of South Carolina and James Inhofe of Oklahoma, The New York Times reported.
To overturn the election results, both the House and the Senate must agree to do so.
Poster Comment:
Mike Pence needs to learn his history. When Thomas Jefferson was Vice President, he chose not to open and read into the record the Electoral College votes from Georgia, thus making him the winner of the election and new President of the United States.
#1: AllTheKings'HorsesWontDoIt To: BTP Holdings (#0)
just saw it briefly on my phone.
well, the compost didn't report the TRUMP WON! part... heard that from someone there. I actually heard them shouting...had to ask what they were saying.
==============
edit.
just heard from vermont windows were broken.
could be antifa agents.
AllTheKings'HorsesWontDoIt posted on 2021-01-06 15:30:03 Reply Private Reply
#2: sonny To: BTP Holdings (#0)
sonny posted on 2021-01-06 16:22:57 Reply Private Reply
#3: Lod To: sonny (#2)
Lod posted on 2021-01-06 17:35:30 Reply Private Reply
#4: Cynicom To: Lod, All (#3)
There is NO alternative.
Cynicom posted on 2021-01-06 17:49:51 Reply Private Reply
#5: Cynicom To: sonny, Lod, noone222, BTP Holdings, All (#2)
"""The horrors of twentieth-century socialism—of Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Mao, and Pol Pot—were the offspring of 1917. Seventy years earlier, Marx and Engels predicted the overthrow of bourgeois rule would require violence and “a dictatorship of the proletariat . . . to weed out remaining capitalist elements.” Lenin conducted this “weeding out” using indiscriminate terror, as Russian socialists before him had done and others would continue to do after his death."""
The ignorant white Christians in Georgia, just signed their own death warrant.
Cynicom posted on 2021-01-06 17:59:49 Reply Private Reply
#6: BTP Holdings To: Cynicom (#5)
The Christians in Armenia were slaughtered by the Muslim Turks.
I worked with an Armenian fellow. He told me once he did not care about what went on over there. ;)
BTP Holdings posted on 2021-01-06 18:21:44 Reply Private Reply
#7: BTP Holdings To: AllTheKings'HorsesWontDoIt (#1)
Some people actually use newsprint in their compost piles.
I never would because of the ink that was used during printing, even though it was usually made with animal fats or vegetable colorants. ;)
BTP Holdings posted on 2021-01-06 18:27:14 Reply Private Reply
#8: BTP Holdings To: sonny (#2)
If he had any courage he would have at least challenged the votes from the contested states.
There is precedent for refusing to read votes. And that goes back to Thomas Jefferson. He refused to read the Electoral College votes from Georgia. And this one action made him President. ;)
BTP Holdings posted on 2021-01-06 18:29:09 Reply Private Reply
#9: IRTorqued To: Cynicom (#5)
just their own? keep your mask snug.
IRTorqued posted on 2021-01-06 19:07:04 Reply Private Reply
#10: noone222 To: AllTheKings'HorsesWontDoIt (#1)
It appears that some Trump folks did breach the building. A lady was shot and killed. This young man witnessed it because he was right behind her as she was climbing through a window. She was carrying a Flag or a Trump banner.
noone222 posted on 2021-01-06 19:09:18 Reply Private Reply
#11: IRTorqued To: sonny (#2)
pence, did not donnel make him his running-mate?
IRTorqued posted on 2021-01-06 19:14:16 Reply Private Reply
#12: AllTheKings'HorsesWontDoIt To: noone222 (#10)
ohhh. I just saw that on PBS. I WONDERED if he was Antifa with his turned back hat!
AllTheKings'HorsesWontDoIt posted on 2021-01-06 20:36:52 Reply Private Reply
#13: AllTheKings'HorsesWontDoIt To: noone222 (#10)
Do you know if those are Congressmen pointing the guns at the window in the photo below the video of the kid?
AllTheKings'HorsesWontDoIt posted on 2021-01-06 20:39:40 Reply Private Reply