Former President Donald Trump issued a statement Sunday firing back against Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and blaming former Vice President Mike Pence for not overturning the 2020 election.
“If the Vice President (Mike Pence) had ‘absolutely no right’ to change the Presidential Election results in the Senate, despite fraud and many other irregularities, how come the Democrats and RINO Republicans, like Wacky Susan Collins, are desperately trying to pass legislation that will not allow the Vice President to change the results of the election?” Trump wrote.
Collins spoke with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Sunday about her efforts to lead a bipartisan group of 16 senators to reform the Electoral College Act.
“We saw, on January sixth of 2021, how ambiguities… were exploited. We need to prevent that from happening again,” she told Stephanopoulos. “I’m hopeful that we can come up with a bipartisan bill that will make very clear that the vice president’s role is simply ministerial, that he has no ability to halt the count.”
The House Jan. 6 panel is also reportedly discussing how to limit the vice president’s role in certifying election results. Some in the Republican party were angry at Pence for not overturning the 2020 election results. Trump attorney John Eastman has been accused of telling Pence that the vice president could block election certification.
By reforming the Electoral College Act, Trump argued, “Actually, what they are saying, is that Mike Pence did have the right to change the outcome, and they now want to take that right away. Unfortunately, he didn’t exercise that power, he could have overturned the Election!”
The former Vice President has defended his decision to not alter the election results.
Speaking about the 2020 election in December, Pence said, “I believe there were irregularities about which I was concerned, and I wanted them to have a fair hearing before the Congress.”
He told CBN’s David Brody that he did his “duty under the Constitution” on Jan. 6 by certifying the election. https://95b7f87528f600d74b80f939100d5a46.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
“I don’t know if President Trump and I will ever see eye to eye on that day – or that many of our most ardent supporters will agree with my decision that day – but I know I did the right thing,” he said, later adding, “The last thing you would ever want is for our elections to be managed in Washington, D.C.”
Pence defended his decision on Jan. 6 as recently as last week.
Fox host Jesse Watters on Thursday asked the former VP “when was the last time you talked to former President Trump? You guys good?”
“You know, we talked last summer,” Pence replied. “It was difficult, January 6 was difficult. It was a tragic day in the life of the nation. I know I did my duty under the constitution of the united states, but the president and I sat down in the days that followed that. We spoke about it, talked through it, we parted amicably.”
