Donald Trump Slams Mike Pence for Not Refuting Electoral College Vote as Capitol Goes on Lockdown in Chaotic Scene

Amidst all of the chaos unfolding at the U.S. Capitol, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to criticize Vice President Mike Pence after the latter refused the president’s request to overturn the election results. Even though Trump maintains that the election was rigged and that there was widespread voter fraud (with no evidence to support either claim), Pence penned a letter in which he noted that he did not believe that the vice president has the power to reject some Electoral College votes for a particular candidate. Shortly after Pence rejected Trump’s calls for him to overturn the election results, a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, causing the building to go under lockdown.

On Wednesday afternoon, Trump tweeted that Pence did not have the “courage” to do what “should have been done” when it came to certifying the election results. He wrote that the vice president did not give the states the chance to correct the “set of facts” they were given. Trump went on to criticize Pence for not allowing the states to look over what he claims to be “fraudulent and inaccurate” results. He ended his statement by writing, “USA demands the truth!” President-elect Joe Biden is the winner of the 2020 presidential election. Even though the president has frequently claimed, without evidence, that there was widespread voter fraud, Congress was tasked with certifying Biden’s win on Wednesday.

According to CNBC, Pence wrote a three-page letter addressed to members of Congress. In his letter, he said that his position as the vice president does not allow him to reject some of the Electoral College results, which is what Trump wanted him to do. He wrote, “It is my considered judgment that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not.” Pence also wrote in his letter that he shared “the concerns of millions of Americans about the integrity of this election,” but that “vesting the Vice President with unilateral authority to decide presidential contests would be entirely antithetical to” the system of checks and balances that the framers of the Constitution allotted for.

As previously mentioned, all of these updates come as a mob, made up of Trump supporters, broke into the Capitol. The building was subsequently placed under lockdown and members of Congress were evacuated. Pence was one of the many members of Congress who was evacuated by security. Due to this chaotic scene, Congress was not able to complete the certification of the election.