Donald Trump, the one-term ex-president whose actions led to the deadly January 6, 2021 insurrection, says his vice president is actually the one to blame for the violence that day.
“Had he sent the votes back to the legislators,” Trump said, referring to Mike Pence, “they wouldn’t have had a problem with Jan. 6.”
“So in many ways, you can blame him for Jan. 6,” Trump told reporters on a flight to Iowa for a campaign rally, according to HuffPost.
“Had he sent them back to Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, the states, I believe, number one, you have had a different outcome, Trump reportedly also said, The Washington Post adds. “But I also believe you wouldn’t have had ‘Jan. 6’ as we call it.”
Trump is wrong on all counts.
Legal experts, constitutional scholars, and lawmakers agree that as vice president, Mike Pence had no constitutional authority to “send votes back to the legislators.”
The Post notes that a “pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 following months of false claims by Trump that the election was stolen from him. He also used incendiary and false rhetoric about the election at rally at the Ellipse shortly before the rioters stormed the Capitol.”
On December 19, 2020, Trump sent out a now-infamous tweet, saying, “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th,” and added, “Be there, will be wild!”
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