Pence affirms he won't block certification of Biden's electoral vote as Trump simultaneously threatens him to do so

President Trump is once again demanding Vice President Mike Pence magically hand him the election.

As Congress convened to count electoral votes and affirm President-elect Joe Biden's win, thousands of Trump supporters gathered to hear the president and his allies raise arguments against the whole process. And after weeks of false claims about just how the election went down, Trump didn't change his tune.

He and his allies spent the rally claiming voter fraud actually handed Biden the win, despite officials on both sides of the aisle saying there was no evidence of election-altering fraud. And at the end, Trump once again called on Pence, who will oversee the joint session of Congress, to "stand up for the good of our Constitution" and block the vote. "And if you're not, I'm going to be very disappointed in you," Trump continued.

The Week

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

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

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.

Sign up

But almost simultaneously, Pence affirmed that he wouldn't listen to Trump's threats. He issued a statement just the vote certification process began saying he doesn't believe the Constitution gives him power to "determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not." Therefore, he'll stand by as the Republicans challenge some states' votes, but will not try to block the count as Trump falsely claimed he could do. Kathryn Krawczyk