Trump claims Jan. 6 committee should be investigating Mike Pence
After baseless claims suggesting former Vice President Mike Pence could have overturned the results of the 2020 election, former President Donald Trump is back with another charge — this one directed at the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack, calling on them to investigate why Pence did not on Jan. 6 "reject electoral college votes from several states won by Joe Biden," reports The Washington Post.
The ex-president's latest missive is a "more nuanced take on what he would have liked to have seen from Pence" that day, as well as a muddled criticism of Congress' decision to revise the Electoral Count Act, "a law that governs what Congress should do in the case of any disputes about which candidate won in a state," notes the Post.
There has been no evidence of widespread election or voter fraud that would have changed the outcome of the race.
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"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 wrote, alleging the committtee "lied" about Pence's rights. The legislation Congress is considering would not change the vice president's role in election certification, it would simply make it more explicit, The Independent explains.
Instead of investigating the Capitol riot, Trump claims, the commitee should be investigating "why [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi did such a poor job of overseeing security" on Jan. 6, "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!"
Pence does not currently have plans to appear before the committee.
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Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
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