'I won't betray my oath': Pence publicly DEFIES Trump's demand to block Biden's confirmation after President declares war on his own 'weak' party at DC rally
Mike Pence said Wednesday he will defy Donald Trump's demand that he overturn the election, vowing he will heed to the constitution, adding 'So Help Me God' – in a letter sent at exactly the same time as the president threatened him at a wild rally in Washington D.C.
Trump told thousands of supporters just outside the White House that he wanted Pence to 'come through' for us and demanded that he reject electoral votes out of hand over that the president claims is 'fraud.'
He threatened Pence saying 'I'm not hearing good stories' and telling him to have 'courage' to strike down swing states' votes – a move which would defy the constitution.
But minutes before arriving on Capitol Hill to preside over the joint session of Congress to certify the election's outcome, Pence bluntly told lawmakers that he would refuse to obey Trump's orders.
Pence sent a letter to the 535 senators and representatives on Capitol Hill ahead of his presiding over the Joint Session that will certify Joe Biden's victory.
In it, he outlined his belief in his role in the proceedings, which he notes is 'ceremonial' and adds that it doesn't include the authority to 'determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not.'
Trump has tried to put the blame on Pence for his expected loss on Wednesday but the president also lacks support among the majority of senators in his own party, which dooms his efforts for a congressional overthrow of the results.
Vice President Mike Pence has refused to follow Donald Trump's demand to overturn the electoral college results and certify Joe Biden's election victory
President Donald Trump threatened Vice President Mike Pence telling him to overturn the general election results shortly before Congress s was to begin counting the electoral votes that will make Joe Biden the next president
Pence acknowledged Trump's allegations the election was rigged, which there has been no proof and no court has upheld, in a likely peace offering to the president
In a letter Wednesday, Pence said, 'It is my considered judgment that my oath to support and defend the Constitution contains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not'
Pence acknowledged Trump's allegations the election was rigged, of which there has been no proof and no court has upheld, in a likely peace offering to the president.
'I share the concerns of millions of Americans about the integrity of this election,' he wrote.
But he noted as vice president he does not have the power from the constitution to decide which electoral votes are counted and which are not.
'As a student of history who loves the constitution and reveres its Framers, I do not believe that the Founds 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 noted.
He added vice presidents in the past have conducted 'the proceedings in an orderly manner even where the count resulted in the defeat of their party or their own candidacy.'
'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,' he said.
He concluded his letter with a prayer to God: 'When the Joint Session of Congress convenes today, I will do my duty to see to it that we open the certificates of electors of the several states, we hear objections raised by Senators and Representatives, and we count the votes of the Electoral College for President and Vice President in a manner consistent with our Constitution, laws and history. So Help Me God.'
Lawmakers got through Alabama and Alaska, two states that went for Trump, without an objection.
Rep. Paul Gosar, an Arizona Republican, objected to his state's Electoral College votes going to Biden and Harris. He confirmed that his objection had been signed on to by a U.S. senator.
Democrats in the chamber audibly groaned.
Droves of Republicans in the chamber stood up and clapped.
The move forced Pence to order the houses out of joint session. The senators in the House chamber started moving back toward their side of the U.S. Capitol.
McConnell ridiculed President Donald Trump's claims of widespread voter fraud in a five-minute speech which will be one of his last as majority leader – and which he said was about the most important vote of his career
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell shamed Donald Trump and his own Republican colleagues for mounting challenges to the Electoral College vote count, saying their doing so could lead to a 'death spiral' of American democracy – and pointing out there’s no real evidence of widespread voter fraud.
'We're debating a step that has never been taken in American history, whether Congress should overrule the voters and overtrun a presidential election,' he said on the Senate floor, after Rep. Paul Gosar and a batch of GOP senators, including Sen. Ted Cruz, objected to Arizona's Electoral College vote count.
McConnell ridiculed President Donald Trump's claims of widespread voter fraud in a five-minute speech which will be one of his last as majority leader – and which he said was about the most important vote of his career.
'The assertions range from specific, local allegations to Constitutional arguments to sweeping conspiracy theories,' McConnell said.
He reminded senators that he was supportive of Trump using the country's legal system, which handed the president and his team loss after loss. And pointed out that these cases were heard by some of the 'all-star judges whom the president himself nominated' - including on the U.S. Supreme Court.
McConnell said that every election is plagued by some instances of vote irregularity.
'And of course that's unacceptable,' he said.
The top Senate Republican also said he supported 'strong state-led votign reforms,' adding that he didn't wan tto see 'last year's bizarre pandemic procedures' - like mail-in ballots that gave Democrats an edge - 'become the new norm.'
'But my colleagues nothing before us proves illegality anywhere near the massive scale, the massive scale that would have tipped the entire election,' McConnell argued. 'Nor can public doubt alone justify a radical break, when the doubt itself was incited without any evidence.'
He pointed out that the Constitution gives Congress a 'limited role.'
'We simply can't declare ourselves a national board of elections on steroids,' McConnell said.
Twisting the knife into Trump, McConnell also pointed out that the race between Biden and Trump 'was not unusually close.'
'The Electoral College margin was almost idential to what it was in 2016,' McConnell pointed out.
'If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side our democracy would enter a death spiral,' McConnel warned. 'We'd never see a whole nation accept an election again.'
'Every four years there would be a scramble for power at any cost,' he added.
On the House side, during their debate on the Arizona objection, Republican lawmakers used their time to complain about the treatment of the president, particularly the impeachment process and special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
They did not offer any proof of voter fraud but complained that voter laws were changed ahead of the November contest, which is not illegal.
‘The law says voter registration ends on October 5. Democrats said we don't care what the law says they went to a court got an Obama appointed judge to extend in 18 days,’ Republican Congressman Jim Jordan, a top Trump ally on Capitol Hill, complained of Arizona.
Many states had their voter registration deadlines extended because of the coronavirus pandemic – the extension applied to voters of both parties. Other states extended the time period allowing mail-in voting, again because of the pandemic and it applied to all voters.
Democrats argued the election was legally conducted.
‘Under some of the most trying circumstances in our history, our fellow citizens conducted a free and fair election vindicating our founders belief once again that we were capable of self government, and a peaceful transition of power,’ Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff said.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi presided over the debate. She sanitized the gavel before she used it. Pence had used it when he presided over the Joint Session.
Pelosi also reminded lawmakers that only 11 members from each party were allowed on the House floor at a time due to social distancing. She called out Republicans for having too many lawmakers on the floor.
Trump addressed his thousands of his supporters near the White House Wednesday at his 'Save America' rally and declared war on his own party, calling Republicans who opposed him 'weak'
Hours after a humiliating defeat in one Georgia Senate race and the prospect of losing another, Team Trump showed no sign of conceding
A stand was being erected at the base of the US Capitol as a pro-Trump supporter holds a flag, hours before Congress meets to certify the electoral college vote for Biden
A crowd of Trump supporters started gathering outside of the White House for a rally on Wednesday
This came after President Donald Trump excoriated 'weak' Republicans and demanded fealty from Pence to a rally crowd near the White House Wednesday where he demanded Pence and Congress overturn the election results that lead to his defeat.
In an extraordinary speech, Trump once again called his election 'rigged' just minutes before a joint meeting of Congress was to begin counting the certified electoral votes that have him losing to Joe Biden.
Trump referred to votes that came in after 10pm election night – which consisted of in-person and mail-in ballots and denied him the lead he said he and his pollsters anticipated – as 'these explosions of bullsh*t.'
Members of the crowd immediately chanted 'Bullshi*t!' in response.
'Our election was over at 10:00 in the evening,' Trump said.
Trump mocked his party's 2012 Republican presidential nominee, now-Sen. Mitt Romney, for conceded his own race back then.
'We will never concede. It doesn't happen,' he said – although losing candidates have conceded for generations. 'There's never been anything like this. It's a pure theft.'
Trump's comments amounted to a declaration of war on elements of his party, after his lawyer Rudy Giuliani demanded 'trial by combat' against opponents of his claims of election fraud.
Trump spoke to a crowd of several thousand – but referred to them as consisting of 'hundreds of thousands' of supporters fathered on a lawn south of the White House that doesn't hold that many.
He said his election was 'stolen by the fake news media. That's what they've done and that's what they're doing.'
He urged his supporters to march down to the Congress, which was to commence the count at 1 pm.
'We're going to walk down to the Capitol and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women,' he said, speaking from behind a pane of bullet-proof material.
He turned up the heat on Pence, a potential 2024 contender who will preside over the count. His role is set in the Constitution and the Electoral Count Act, and is largely ceremonial.
'Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us, and if he doesn't that will be a sad day for our country because you're sworn to uphold our Constitution,' he said.
Trump acknowledged that he has tried to pressure Pence into rejecting votes from states he lost, quoting from a conversation he has denied happened.
'All Vice President Pence has to do is send it back to the states to re-certify and we become president and you are the happiest people,' he told his fans, who cheered 'Stop the Steal!' at times.
'I said Mike, that doesn't take courage. What takes courage is to do nothing. That takes courage. And then we're stuck with a president who lost the election by a lot and we have to live with that,' he said of Biden.
Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani once again raised allegations of widespread election fraud – which he said also occurred in the Georgia Senate runoff elections
'If we're wrong we will be made fools of, but if we're right a lot of them will go to jail. Let's have trial by combat,' he said, without explaining exactly what he meant by combat
Donald Trump Jr, the president's eldest son, demanded that Republican Party lawmakers in Congress 'be the hero, not the zero' and refuse to certify President-elect Joe Biden's victory
Thousands of supporters of President Trump are seen above near the Washington Monument for the 'Save America' rally on Wednesday
Trump touted his own vote total, but denied Biden's was real.
'And by the way, does anybody believe that Joe had 80 million votes?' Trump asked rhetorically. 'Does anybody believe that? He had 80 million computer votes. It's a disgrace,' Trump said.
His mention of the pandemic came in terms of his own race, where millions voted by mail as thousands battled infections in a year more than 300,000 Americans died of COVID-19.
'They've used the pandemic as a way of defrauding the people in a proper election,' Trump said.
'Eight weeks. I want to go back eight weeks. Let's go back eight weeks,' he mused at one point, as he described a conversation with an unnamed official who told him that he would be lock to win in 2024.
Trump repeatedly couched his demands not as an effort to overturn the votes of the people, but as a legal effort.
'Somebody says: Well we have to obey the Constitution,' Trump said. 'And you are, because you're protecting our country and you're protecting the Constitution so you are,' he said.
He said it would protect the country from having what he called 'an illegitimate president.'
'The states were defrauded. They were given false information,' Trump claimed.
During various tangents, he complained about how he is treated on social media, such as when 'I get a flag' on his tweets. 'I don't care about Twitter, Twitter's bad news, he said afterward.
He went after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell several times, including for not going along with his proposal to change communications laws.
'I helped Mitch get elected,' he said of the longtime incumbent.
'And then all of a sudden you have something like this,' he said, going after 'weak Republicans' and 'pathetic Republicans' – despite a top official in Georgia blaming him for the likely defeats of two Senate Republican incumbents.
He also called out Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) after her comment that failing to accept the electors certified by states would violate the Constitution.
'The Liz Cheneys of the world, we've got to get rid of them,' Trump said.
'Brian Kemp – vote him the hell out of office please,' Trump said of the Georgia governor.
He said Georgia's secretary of state Brad Raffensperger had 'no clue' what was going on, but then said 'maybe' he was with the other side – the Democrats.
'I can't believe this guy was a Republican,' said Trump. 'He loves recording telephone conversations,' Trump said – mentioning a leaked call where Trump can be heard asking him to 'find' 11,780 votes to make him the winner.
'People love that conversation, because it says what's going on,' Trump said.
Donald Trump Jr (left), the president's eldest son, kisses his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle (right), before addressing the rally on Wednesday
Donald Trump Jr., claimed there were 100,000 people there but images showed far fewer and he bashed elected Republicans who have refused to go along with his father's claims of fraud
Trump also complained about the Supreme Court, which failed to take up a Texas lawsuit he sought to join, and even his former attorney general Bill Barr, who said before leaving his post there wasn't sufficient fraud to change the outcome.
'I'm not happy with the Supreme Court. They look to rule against me. I picked three people. I fought like hell for one in particular,' Trump inveighed.
'You know I read a story in one of the newspapers recently, how I control the three Supreme Court Justices. I control them. They're puppets. I read it about Bill Barr - that he's my personal attorney, that he'll do anything for me.
'But he denied pulling Barr's strings'And I said, you know, it really is genius, because what they do is that, and it makes it really impossible for them to ever give you a victory, because all of a sudden Bill Barr changed if you hadn't noticed. I like Bill Barr but he changed because he didn't want to be considered my personal attorney, and the Supreme Court. They ruled against me so much you know why? Because the story is, I haven't spoken to any of them. Any since virtually they got in, but the story is that they're my puppet, right, that they're puppets. And now that the only way they can get out of that - because they hate that it's not good on the social circuit. And the only way they get out is to rule against Trump. So let's rule against Trump and they do.'
'You know I read a story in one of the newspapers recently, how I control the three Supreme Court Justices. I control them. They're puppets. I read it about Bill Barr - that he's my personal attorney, that he'll do anything for me.'
But he denied pulling Barr's strings'And I said, you know, it really is genius, because what they do is that, and it makes it really impossible for them to ever give you a victory, because all of a sudden Bill Barr changed if you hadn't noticed. I like Bill Barr but he changed because he didn't want to be considered my personal attorney, and the Supreme Court. They ruled against me so much you know why? Because the story is, I haven't spoken to any of them. Any since virtually they got in, but the story is that they're my puppet, right, that they're puppets. And now that the only way they can get out of that - because they hate that it's not good on the social circuit. And the only way they get out is to rule against Trump. So let's rule against Trump and they do.'
Giuliani said, 'If we're wrong we will be made fools of, but if we're right a lot of them will go to jail. Let's have trial by combat,' he said, without explaining exactly what he meant by combat.
'I'm willing to stake my reputation, the president is willing to stake his reputation on the fact that we're going to find criminality there,' said the former New York mayor. Trump and his allies have suffered dozens of losses in state and federal courts with suits charging election fraud.
He spoke to thousands of cheering supporters on the Ellipse south of the White House. A permit was for 30,000 people.
The president's son, Donald Trump Jr., claimed there were 100,000 people there but images showed far fewer.
He bashed elected Republicans who have refused to go along with his father's claims of fraud.
'The people who did nothing to stop the steal -- this gathering should send a message to them. This isn't their Republican Party anymore. This is Donald Trump's Republican Party. This is the Republican Party that will put America first,' he said.
His girlfriend, former Fox News personality Kimberly Guilfoyle, also spoke.
Eric Trump (right), the president's son, and his wife, Lara Trump, raise their fists in front of thousands of supporters near the White House on Wednesday
A militia-like group is seen making their way to Trump's rally on Wednesday morning
Trump supporters gather near the White House and watch the rally on a big screen set up nearby
A woman is seen holding a sign that reads 'Trump is the party' as the president's supporters gather on the Washington Monument grounds
Trump supporters braved cold temperatures in Washington, DC, on Wednesday hours before the start of planned demonstrations
A Trump supporter is seen with a protective vest decorated with Trump badges at Wednesday's rally
Trump was expected to address his supporters later in the morning during a rally on the Ellipse, just south of the White House
United States Park Police are seen above arresting a man near the Washington Monument on Wednesday
After claiming fraud in Trump's election, John Eastman claimed fraud in the count Tuesday night, which allowed Rev. Raphael Warnock to be called as the winner in one runoff and has Democrat Jon Ossoff leading in another.
Explaining how the fraud he claims occurred happened, Eastman said: 'You know the old way was to have a bunch of ballots sitting in a box under the floor … They put those ballots in a secret folder in the machines, sitting there waiting until they know how many they need … I can now in that machine match those unvoted ballots with an unvoted voter and put them together in the machine. How do we know that happened last night in real time? You saw when it went to 99 per cent of the vote total, and it stopped.'
He pointed to a point late in the vote count while counties were still tabulating votes – a version of Trump's complaint that he led in early returns on election night in November. Last night, Republicans led until addition in-person votes came in in populous Democratic-leaning counties 'That means they were unloading the ballots from that secret folder,' he claimed.
At least 10 people were arrested for gun possession crimes and other violations and others were seen clashing with counter-demonstrators.
One man from North Carolina was detained after he was caught carrying a gun without a license.
The man rode into the capital on a bus which was stopped by police near Ninth Street and Constitution Avenue NW.
Police boarded the bus and confiscated a rifle and a handgun as well as a drum magazine that holds additional ammunition.
Many in the crowd were photographed not wearing masks and gathered in tight quarters, shoulder to shoulder, despite the raging pandemic and the nationwide surge in the number of coronavirus cases.
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