Despite growing pressure from President Donald Trump to help overturn his election loss, Vice President Mike Pence plans to stick to his ceremonial duties and not interfere with the election certification when presiding in Congress on Wednesday, advisers said.
Mr Trump ramped up pressure on Pence on Tuesday to block Congress’ certification of the November election results in an ongoing attempt to stay in power, after dozens of lawsuits by his campaign challenging election results failed in US courts.
But the vice president, a loyal lieutenant during the four years of Mr Trump’s often chaotic presidency, has no plans to attempt to do so, even as he seeks to show support for the Republican president’s quest.
Mr Pence is as it receives the results of the state-by-state Electoral College that determines the winner of presidential elections.
President-elect Joe Biden, a Democrat, beat Mr Trump 306-232 in the Electoral College and, in the popular vote, by more than seven million ballots. Mr Trump has declined to concede the election.
US states have already certified the results, and Mr Pence’s role on Wednesday as president of the Senate is to “open all the certificates,” in the presence of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the US Constitution says.
Mr Trump has suggested Mr Pence could do more than that.
“The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors,” Mr Trump wrote in a tweet on Tuesday, his latest unfounded suggestion that the election was marred by widespread fraud.
Mr Pence told Mr Trump on Tuesday he did not believe he had the power to block the certification, according to a source familiar with the subject.
In a statement issued to the New York Times late on Tuesday night - which the publication reports was inaccurately dated 5 January - Mr Trump said the reporting of his discussion with Mr Pence was "fake news".
“He never said that,” the statement said. “The Vice President and I are in total agreement that the Vice President has the power to act.”
In a subsequent tweet late on Tuesday night, Mr Trump again said, "If Vice President Mike Pence comes through for us, we will win the presidency".
"Many States want to decertify the mistake they made in certifying incorrect and even fraudulent numbers in a process NOT approved by their State Legislatures (which it must be). Mike can send it back!"
Mr Trump’s tweets came after pointed remarks at a campaign rally for Republican US Senate incumbents in Georgia on Monday night, in which he expressed hope that Mr Pence would intervene.
“If he doesn’t come through, I won’t like him quite as much,” Mr Trump said.
About a dozen Republican senators, as well as dozens of Republicans in the House, plan to object to the certification of the Electoral College results in Congress on Wednesday. The move has virtually no chance of overturning Mr Biden’s victory.
'Will withhold the Constitution'
Current and former White House aides said the vice president planned to perform his ceremonial duties.
“He will be very supportive of the president, but again he’ll stick to the Constitution,” one former White House official who has regular contact with Mr Pence’s team told Reuters.
The vice president would make clear in his statements that he backs Mr Trump, while sticking to the constraints of the role, the former official said.
“It is a ceremonial role. It is opening up envelopes and reading the contents of it,” he said. “That’s it.”
Mr Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, told Reuters on Monday that the vice president “will uphold the Constitution and follow the statutory law".
On Friday, a Trump-appointed judge rejected a lawsuit brought by Republican members of Congress asking Mr Pence to reject Electoral College results, saying they had no standing for such a suit.
One Trump adviser said the president had told others he would like Mr Pence to fight harder for him.
The vice president has sought, so far, to express his support without repeating the president’s false claims about the election. On Monday, during his own trip to Georgia, Mr Pence said that Republican objections to the election would be heard, but he did not commit to taking action on them.
“I share the concerns of millions of Americans about voting irregularities. And I promise you, come this Wednesday, we’ll have our day in Congress. We’ll hear the objections. We’ll hear the evidence,” he said.
Following a pattern throughout their partnership, Mr Pence has kept Mr Trump informed about his thinking.
The former adviser said Mr Pence likely walked the president through the restrictions of his role, informed by a weekend meeting with a congressional parliamentarian.