Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Fresno City Gets Extension in Herndon 4-Story Apartment Case

2 days ago

With Major Heat Risk Forecast, This Is a Good Weekend to Stay Indoors in Fresno

2 days ago

Trump Says Intel Has Agreed to Deal for US to Take 10% Equity Stake

2 days ago

Epstein Associate Maxwell Says She Never Saw Trump Behave Inappropriately

2 days ago

Pew: US Immigrant Population Declines for First Time in Nearly 60 Years

2 days ago

Powell, Citing Jobs Risk, Opens Door to Cuts but Doesn’t Commit

2 days ago

FBI Agents Search Ex-Trump Adviser Bolton’s Home, Source Says

2 days ago

Gaza City Officially in Famine, With Hunger Spreading, Says Global Hunger Monitor

2 days ago

Gavin Newsom’s Redistricting Plan Is on Its Way to Voters. What You Need to Know

2 days ago
Loyal Soldier Pence Torn Between Trump, Constitution
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
January 5, 2021

Share

WASHINGTON — He has been President Donald Trump’s most loyal soldier, dutifully backing the unpredictable leader and largely avoiding his ire.

Now Vice President Mike Pence finds himself in the most precarious position of his tenure as he prepares to preside over Wednesday’s congressional tally of Electoral College votes, the last front in Trump’s futile attempts to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the November election.

Seated on the House of Representatives’ rostrum, Pence will bear witness to the formalization of Trump’s — and his own — election defeat, as tellers from the House and Senate record states’ electoral votes. At the end of the count, it will be his job to announce who has won the majority of votes for both president and vice president.

But Pence, whose proscribed role is largely pro forma, is under intense pressure from the president and legions of supporters who want the vice president to use the moment to overturn the will of the voters in a handful of critical battleground states.

“I hope Mike Pence comes through for us, I have to tell you,” Trump said at a rally Monday night in Georgia for candidates in two Senate runoff elections.

“Of course, if he doesn’t come through, I won’t like him quite as much,” Trump added, drawing laughs. He said Pence was “going to have a lot to say about it. And you know one thing with him, you’re going to get straight shots. He’s going to call it straight.”

Trump continued to pile on Tuesday, tweeting that Pence “has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors.” The Constitution does not grant the vice president any such power — it is up to the House and Senate to voice objections — and states’ electors were chosen in accordance with state law, not fraudulently.

Pence has nonetheless spent hours huddling with the president, staff and the Senate parliamentarian ahead of Wednesday’s proceedings. His office declined to discuss his plans, but people close to the vice president stressed his respect for institutions and said they expect him to act in accordance with the law and hew to the Constitution.

“I think he will approach this as a constitutionalist, basically, and say, ’What’s my role in the Constitution as president of the Senate?’” said David McIntosh, president of the conservative Club for Growth and a Pence friend. “What he’ll do is allow anybody who is going to move to object to be heard, but then abide by what the majority of the Senate makes the outcome.”

Pence Is Eyeing His Own Run for the White House in 2024

In fulfilling one of the few formal responsibilities of the vice presidency, Pence also risks compromising his own political future. Pence is eyeing his own run for the White House in 2024, and is banking on his years of loyalty to Trump — likely to be the GOP’s top kingmaker for years to come — to help him stand out in what is expected to be a crowded field.

That means he must avoid angering Trump along with large portions of the Republican base, who have bought into the president’s unsupported claims of widespread election fraud and have been falsely led to believe that Pence has the power to reverse the outcome by rejecting the votes from states like Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania that swung from Trump in 2016 to Biden in 2020.

“Stop the steal!” voters in Georgia chanted to Pence at a rally for the Senate candidates at the Rock Springs Church in Milner, Georgia, on Monday.

“I know we all — we all got our doubts about the last election. And I want to assure you, I share the concerns of millions of Americans about voting irregularities,” Pence told the crowd. “And I promise you, come this Wednesday, we’ll have our day in Congress. We’ll hear the objections. We’ll hear the evidence.”

On Wednesday beginning at 1 p.m., Pence is to preside over a joint session of Congress. His role is to open the certificates of the electoral votes from each state and present them to the appointed “tellers” from the House and Senate in alphabetical order. At the end of the count, it falls to Pence to announce who won.

In 2017, it fell to Biden to intone, “It is over” after votes were tallied for Trump and Pence.

Allies stress his role is largely ministerial, and that the electoral count could only be overturned by the lawmakers — a virtual impossibility given that Democrats control the House. But Pence on Sunday held a two-hour meeting that included the Senate parliamentarian to review his role and responsibilities

And on Monday, Pence was in the Oval Office with Trump and senior aides as the president continued to seek pathways to overturn the election results. The scene appeared animated as the president, Pence and their chiefs of staff met with lawyer John Eastman and others.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has been leading the president’s legal effort, said in a podcast interview that the team had been consulting with constitutional law professors and analyzing Pence’s options. He said Trump and Pence on Monday were “going through all of the research” and would probably wait until Tuesday to make a decision on how to proceed.

Despite Claims by Trump and His Allies, There Was Not Widespread Fraud in the Election

“The president will make this decision based on his judgment and the advice that he gets on what the Constitution demands,” Giuliani told conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Despite claims by Trump and his allies, there was not widespread fraud in the election. This has been confirmed by a range of election officials and by William Barr, who stepped down as attorney general last month. Neither Trump nor any of the lawmakers promising to object to the count have presented credible evidence that would change the outcome.

Nevertheless, more than 100 House Republicans and a dozen Senate Republicans have said they will challenge the electoral votes of at least one of the battleground states on Wednesday.

And on Monday, Republican parties in several states had Ronna McDaniel, who chairs the Republican National Committee, deliver letters to Pence encouraging him to reject the legally selected electors from Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania.

The efforts make it all but impossible for Pence to remain above the fray, as some allies had hoped. Others have expressed regret that some extreme Trump loyalists, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn and attorney Sidney Powell, have tried to drive a wedge between Trump and his vice president during the final days of the administration.

That frustration seems to be shared by Pence, who recently expressed his frustrations to McIntosh about an ad from the anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project that painted the vice president as distancing himself from Trump. So the Club for Growth cut its own ad, which it aired in Palm Beach during Trump’s Florida vacation, trumpeting Pence’s loyalty to the president.

McIntosh said Pence resented what he felt was a “cheap shot” by the group, adding that he expects Pence to emerge from this week’s drama with his reputation intact.

“In the moment, there is that uncomfortable feeling, but in the long run, people respect you if you do what you think is right and explain why you do it,” he said. “This moment will pass. The decision will be made.”

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Fresno State Bulldogs Can’t Find Answer for Daniels in Loss at Kansas

DON'T MISS

Hegseth Authorizes Troops in DC to Carry Weapons

DON'T MISS

Texas, Florida Seek to Join Legal Challenge to Abortion Pill

DON'T MISS

Wrongly Deported Migrant Abrego Released, May Be Detained Again

DON'T MISS

Judge Blocks Trump From Withholding Funds From Los Angeles, Other Sanctuary Cities

DON'T MISS

Lyle Menendez Denied Parole After 35 Years in Prison for Parents’ Shotgun Murders

DON'T MISS

California Cities Lack Unified Response On Homeless Encampments

DON'T MISS

Trump Crime Crackdown Deploys Troops in Washington’s Safest Sites

DON'T MISS

California Voters Still Support High-Speed Rail, Even If It Never Gets Done

DON'T MISS

Turkish First Lady Urges Melania Trump to Speak out on Gaza

UP NEXT

Texas, Florida Seek to Join Legal Challenge to Abortion Pill

UP NEXT

Wrongly Deported Migrant Abrego Released, May Be Detained Again

UP NEXT

Judge Blocks Trump From Withholding Funds From Los Angeles, Other Sanctuary Cities

UP NEXT

California Cities Lack Unified Response On Homeless Encampments

UP NEXT

Trump Crime Crackdown Deploys Troops in Washington’s Safest Sites

UP NEXT

California Voters Still Support High-Speed Rail, Even If It Never Gets Done

UP NEXT

Trump Says Intel Has Agreed to Deal for US to Take 10% Equity Stake

UP NEXT

Texas Senate Debates Redistricting Bill, Is Expected to Pass It Easily

UP NEXT

Trump: DC Mayor Bowser Must Get Act Together or Won’t Be Mayor Anymore

UP NEXT

Wall Street Soars as Powell Hints at Rate Cut in September

Wrongly Deported Migrant Abrego Released, May Be Detained Again

19 hours ago

Judge Blocks Trump From Withholding Funds From Los Angeles, Other Sanctuary Cities

20 hours ago

Lyle Menendez Denied Parole After 35 Years in Prison for Parents’ Shotgun Murders

20 hours ago

California Cities Lack Unified Response On Homeless Encampments

20 hours ago

Trump Crime Crackdown Deploys Troops in Washington’s Safest Sites

20 hours ago

California Voters Still Support High-Speed Rail, Even If It Never Gets Done

20 hours ago

Turkish First Lady Urges Melania Trump to Speak out on Gaza

20 hours ago

Fresno Crash Sends Car Into Building After Running Red Light

2 days ago

Fresno City Gets Extension in Herndon 4-Story Apartment Case

2 days ago

Atwater Prison Inmate Charged for Threatening to Kill Prosecutor’s Family

2 days ago

Fresno State Bulldogs Can’t Find Answer for Daniels in Loss at Kansas

The Bulldogs could not stop Jalon Daniels. If the Kansas sixth-year quarterback wasn’t accurately completing passes, he was running out of t...

8 hours ago

8 hours ago

Fresno State Bulldogs Can’t Find Answer for Daniels in Loss at Kansas

Soldiers with the 30th Armored Combat Brigade from the South Carolina National Guard at Union Station in Washington, Aug. 20, 2025. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has authorized National Guard troops deployed to Washington to bring their weapons with them on their mission. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times)
18 hours ago

Hegseth Authorizes Troops in DC to Carry Weapons

A patient prepares to take Mifepristone, the first pill in a medical abortion, at Alamo Women's Clinic in Carbondale, Illinois, U.S., April 9, 2024. (Reuters File)
19 hours ago

Texas, Florida Seek to Join Legal Challenge to Abortion Pill

Kilmar Abrego Garcia walks, after he has been released from the Putnam County Jail in Cookville, Tennessee, U.S., August 22, 2025. (Reuters/Seth Herald)
19 hours ago

Wrongly Deported Migrant Abrego Released, May Be Detained Again

U.S. flag and Judge gavel are seen in this illustration taken, August 6, 2024. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration)
20 hours ago

Judge Blocks Trump From Withholding Funds From Los Angeles, Other Sanctuary Cities

Lyle Menendez attends his Board of Parole hearing online from the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California, U.S., August 22, 2025, that could lead to freedom after decades in prison for the 1989 shotgun murders of his parents. The final decision will rest with the governor, who can either accept or reject the board's recommendation. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation/Handout via REUTERS
20 hours ago

Lyle Menendez Denied Parole After 35 Years in Prison for Parents’ Shotgun Murders

20 hours ago

California Cities Lack Unified Response On Homeless Encampments

Members of the Mississippi National Guard eat ice cream and boba tea on the National Mall after U.S. President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard and ordered an increased presence of federal law enforcement to assist in crime prevention, in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 21, 2025. (Reuters/Al Drago)
20 hours ago

Trump Crime Crackdown Deploys Troops in Washington’s Safest Sites

Search

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Send this to a friend