Pence publicly rejects Trump’s calls for him to overturn the election: It’s ‘antithetical to the Founders’ design’

For days now, Vice President Mike Pence has been on the receiving end of increasing pressure from President Trump to delay or obstruct the Electoral College certification set to occur in Congress on Wednesday.

During a rally this Wednesday, Trump ratcheted up the pressure again, saying that he’s counting on Pence to “do the right thing.”

“I hope Mike is going to do the right thing,” Trump said Wednesday. “If Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election.”

“If he doesn’t,” he added later, “that will be a sad day for our country.”

Pence made his position on the matter clear on the same day. In a statement, he said that to do Trump’s bidding would go against the intention of the U.S. Constitution.

“Our Founders were deeply skeptical of concentrations of power and created a Republic based on separation of powers and checks and balances…Vesting the VP with unilateral authority to decide presidential contests would be entirely antithetical to that design,” he said, according to CNN’s Abby Phillip.

Trump has more than once made the false claim that Pence has the power to reject states’ certification, delaying the process and ultimately handing him the presidency.

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Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.