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.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"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.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
Thunderbolts*: Florence Pugh stars in 'super-silly' yet 'terrific' film
The Week Recommends This is a Marvel movie with a difference, featuring an 'ill-matched squad of antiheroes'
-
Five best ways to save money at the petrol pump
The Explainer You don't have to wait for petrol prices to fall to reduce your fuel costs
-
Exurbs: America's biggest housing trend you haven't heard of
Under the Radar Northeastern exurbs were the nation's biggest housing markets in 2024
-
Carney and Trump come face-to-face as bilateral tensions mount
IN THE SPOTLIGHT For his first sit-down with an unpredictable frenemy, the Canadian prime minister elected on a wave of anti-Trump sentiment tried for an awkward detente
-
Supreme Court allows transgender troop ban
speed read The US Supreme Court will let the Trump administration begin executing its ban on transgender military service members
-
Another messaging app used by the White House is in hot water
The Explainer TeleMessage was seen being used by former National Security Adviser Mike Waltz
-
How does the Alien Enemies Act work?
Feature President Trump is using a long-dormant law to deport Venezuelans. How does it work?
-
Baby bonus: Can Trump boost the birth rate?
Feature The Trump administration is encouraging Americans to have more babies while also cutting funding for maternal and postpartum care
-
Hollywood confounded by Trump's film tariff idea
speed read President Trump proposed a '100% tariff' on movies 'produced in foreign lands'
-
Trump offers migrants $1,000 to 'self-deport'
speed read The Department of Homeland Security says undocumented immigrants can leave the US in a more 'dignified way'
-
Deportations ensnare migrant families, U.S. citizens
Feature Trump's deportation crackdown is sweeping up more than just immigrants as ICE targets citizens, judges and nursing mothers