Alarm bells rang Tuesday when Pence continued the Trump team’s false election fraud rhetoric – even after no evidence was obtained through various investigations. “Stay in the fight,” he urged.
It is federal law that Congress must meet Jan. 6 to open the sealed certificates from each state containing a record of their electoral votes. At that time, bipartisan representatives from both chambers read the results out loud and conduct an official count.
The president of the Senate, in this case Vice President Mike Pence, then presides over the session and declares the winner from the official tally.
This is how it’s historically happened, but what if Pence makes the decision not to announce the winner as President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris? Then it gets dicey.
“The role of the vice president as presiding officer is often an awkward one, as it will be for Pence, who will be charged with announcing Biden’s victory — and his own defeat — once the electoral votes are counted. It will be especially tense for the former Indiana congressman as his boss, Trump, has refused to concede,” the Associated Press reported in their explainer piece.
“I think there comes a time when you have to realize that, despite your best efforts you’ve been unsuccessful,” Texas Sen. John Cornyn told reporters, saying he hopes anyone entertaining the idea of an objection would realize that it “would be futile and it’s unnecessary.”
Watch the video below to see Pence’s remarks from a news conference on Tuesday.