NO CAN DON
MIKE Pence reportedly told Donald Trump he does not have the authority to change the results of the election - even as the president continues to say it's up to his VP to overturn his defeat.
According to the New York Times, Pence told President Trump during his weekly lunch with the president that he does not have the power to overturn the election when Congress convenes on Wednesday to certify Joe Biden's election win.
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Trump furiously denied the meeting having ever taken place, instead again falsely claiming Pence can indeed reject the election results.
“The New York Times report regarding comments Vice President Pence supposedly made to me today is fake news," Trump said in a statement. "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," Trump continued. "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," Trump falsely asserted.
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"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."
Pence's message came hours after Trump subtweeted the VP, putting public pressure on Pence to "reject" Congress' certification.
"The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors," Trump erroneously tweeted earlier on Tuesday.
Trump's claims are based on Pence's largely ceremonial role in Congress' certification of Biden's win. According to people briefed with the conversation, Pence apparently told Trump he did not believe he had the power to block the congressional certification.
The vice president indeed does not hold unilateral power to alter the election results that were sent by states to Congress.
However, that has yet to stop a number of Republican Congressmembers from saying they would reject the election results - and in a countermeasure, a number of other Republican Congressmembers from warning against any attempts to undermine the results.
Republican Senators Tim Scott of South Carolina and James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma came out in opposition to their GOP colleagues, saying any challenging of the state's certification is "a violation of my oath of office."
The certification, likely to go on for hours given the planned GOP protest, will star Pence as presiding over a roll call of states on Wednesday.
Should at least one senator and one representative object to the results from a state, they can force a debate of up to two hours about the results.
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This will then force each chamber of Congress into a separate vote as to whether to certify the state's results.
Both the House and Senate would then need to agree for the results of a state to be overturned.
However, considering Democrats control the House and the majority of Republican senators have warned not to politicize the certification process, there is seldom a possibility any state's outcome would be rejected.
Objections are expected for the states of Georgia, Arizona and Pennsylvania, all states that went to Biden. Biden also carried a total of 306 Electoral votes over Trump's 232.
Likewise, objections are anticipated for Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin, although it is unclear if the lawmakers would receive objections from both a senator and representative.
Pence, the presiding officer of the Senate, will read each Electoral College vote for each candidate and certify the election win for Biden.
Pence has spent the last few days attempting to appease the president and his supporters while trying to also distance himself from the objections and convey his lack of power.
Some speculate his tiptoeing around the issue could be a sign of his eventual 2024 run for president in the hopes of attracting much of the president's base.
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Pence even promised the president he would contact legal experts to see if he has any authority to reject the results and study the issue up until the 1PM Wednesday roll call - but has continued to tell the president he lacks such power.
A source close to the president said he and Pence have spoken about having Pence acknowledge fraud having occurred during any debates that should arise out of the results, which Pence would preside over.
Trump has been brandishing Pence as the last beacon of hope in overturning the election, attempting to persuade him in private while putting pressure on Pence in public.
The president's campaign lawyers have already been handed an overwhelming number of legal losses in states they raised suits in on unfounded claims of mass voter fraud.
According to sources close to the president, he would rather let people believe he lost the election because it was rigged rather than let people think he simply lost the election.
Pence is expected to fulfill his constitutional duties as dictated. Should he be unable or unwilling, his duties would be carried out by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the Senate's longest-serving GOP member.
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Close allies of the president have tried to offer Pence a way out of the difficult position he has been put in.
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"Some have speculated that the vice president could simply say, 'I’m not going to accept these electors,' that he has the authority to do that under the Constitution," said one of Trump's personal lawyers, Jay Sekulow.
"I actually don’t think that’s what the Constitution has in mind," Sekulow continued on a radio show on Tuesday. "If that’s the case, any vice president could refuse any election. It’s more of a ministerial procedural function."