Trump says Jan. 6 committee should be investigating Mike Pence

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Former President Donald Trump calls for the Jan. 6 House select committee to investigate former Vice President Mike Pence.
• Trump said if Pence had rejected the Electoral College results for the 2020 presidential election, the Capitol attack could have been prevented.
• Trump also blamed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for not increasing security at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the Jan. 6 committee should investigate former Vice President Mike Pence.

Trump said if Pence had rejected the Electoral College results for the 2020 presidential election, it would have prevented the Capitol attack from taking place.

In a statement sent by Save America PAC, Trump also blamed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for not listening to his recommendation to heighten security at the Capitol building that day.

“If it [Electoral College votes] were sent back to the legislators, or if Nancy Pelosi, who is in charge of Capitol security, had taken my recommendation and substantially increased security, there would have been no ‘January 6’ as we know it!” Trump said.

“Therefore, the Unselect Committee should be investigating why Nancy Pelosi did such a poor job of overseeing security and why Mike Pence did not send back the votes for recertification or approval, in that it has now been shown that he clearly had the right to do so!” he added.

Trump slammed efforts on Capitol Hill to reform the Electoral Count Act, claiming it indicates that Pence had the ability to reject the Electoral College results.

“So pathetic to watch the Unselect Committee of political hacks, liars, and traitors work so feverishly to alter the Electoral College Act so that a Vice President cannot ensure the honest results of the election, when just one year ago they said that ‘the Vice President has absolutely no right to ensure the true outcome or results of an election,’” Trump said in a statement.

“In other words, they lied, and the Vice President did have this right or, more pointedly, could have sent the votes back to various legislators for reassessment after so much fraud and irregularities were found,” he added.

As per Associated Press, the vice president does not have the authority to unilaterally overturn the results of an election, and doing so would have amounted to a profound break from precedent and democratic norms in the U.S. Vice presidents play only a ceremonial role in the counting.

Trump’s renewed attacks come as Pence considers a run for president in 2024. Trump’s VP has been traveling the U.S. to visit early voting states, and host fundraisers for midterm candidates.

Source: The Hill