Pressure on Vice unlawful
Ex-adviser: Trump wanted to “steal democracy”
06/16/2022, 10:19 p.m
In an unprecedented way, ex-US President Trump tried to turn around his election defeat in 2020. He put his vice Pence under massive pressure. Even former advisers to Pence and Trump now condemn this. One speaks of the danger of a “revolution” and “constitutional crisis”.
Former US President Donald Trump’s attempts to urge his deputy Mike Pence to overturn the election outcome were unlawful, according to former government advisers. Pence’s adviser at the time, Greg Jacob, said at a hearing in the investigative committee into the US Capitol attack that an intensive review at the time concluded that “there is no reasonable basis for concluding that the vice president has that authority.”
Retired judge Michael Luttig, whose advice Pence sought on the matter, said if Pence had heeded Trump’s call at the time, it would have plunged America into a “revolution” and a “constitutional crisis.” In a written statement, he said Trump and his allies knew full well that he had lost the 2020 presidential election. Nevertheless, they claimed that he had won the election and tried to overturn the outcome. The “treacherous plan” was to “steal America’s democracy.”
The committee again showed video recordings of previous witness interviews, in which Trump advisors at the time also dismissed the theory that Pence could have turned Trump’s election defeat during the formal procedure in Congress. Former Trump White House Attorney Eric Herschmann called the theory “completely insane.” At the time, he said to one of Trump’s advisers – John Eastman, who promoted this idea: “Are you crazy?”. He also warned Eastman it would “cause riots in the streets.”
Several people died when the parliament building was stormed
On January 6, 2021, supporters of the then Republican President Trump stormed the seat of parliament in Washington. The US Congress met there to formally confirm the election victory of Trump’s democratic challenger Joe Biden. The violent crowd wanted to prevent that. Several people died in the attack. At that time, Pence chaired the congress session in his role as Vice President – legally a purely ceremonial task. Trump had previously openly called on his deputy to block the procedure – in order to help him win the election afterwards.
Shortly before the storming of the US Capitol, Trump had again incited his supporters at a rally that the election victory had been stolen from him. He also explicitly incited his supporters against Pence. At the time, they were looking for the vice president in the building, whom they called a traitor and threatened to hang because he did not prevent Biden’s confirmation.
Democratic commissioner of inquiry chairman Bennie Thompson paid tribute to Pence’s stance. “He held up under the pressure,” Thompson said. “He knew it was illegal. He knew it was wrong.” The country can count itself lucky that the then Vice President was so courageous. “That courage put him in enormous danger.” Thompson warned: “On January 6, democracy came dangerously close to catastrophe.”