Donald Trump Blames Election Loss on Pence Certifying Biden’s Win: ‘Disappointed’ – Newsweek

Former President Donald Trump on Monday said that he could still be in office if Mike Pence had refused to certify President Joe Biden's election win.

On January 6, Pence declined Trump's demand that he block the certification by Congress of Biden's election as the 46th U.S. president. In a three-page letter to congressional members, the then-vice president said that he didn't share Trump's belief that he possessed the power to reject Electoral College votes.

Trump criticized Pence's decision in a new interview on Real America's Voice, arguing that there would be a "different president right now" if he had refused to certify Biden.

"I've always liked Mike and I'm very disappointed that he didn't send it back to the legislature. When you have more votes than you have voters in some cases, and when you have the kind of things that were known then," Trump said. "I was disappointed that he didn't send it back. I felt that he had the right to send it back and he should have sent it back. That's my opinion."

"I think you would have found that you might very well have a different president right now if he sent it back," he added.

Newsweek reached out to Pence representatives for comment. This story will be updated with any response.

After losing the election, Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence that widespread voter fraud caused his defeat. His campaign filed a series of lawsuits in swing states, including Nevada, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Georgia, in an effort to flip the election. Trump alleged that the fraud was widespread, but the contents and claims of the suits were much narrower, and unsuccessful in court.

Pence's break from Trump came just before he presided over a joint session of Congress to declare Biden the winner. "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," he said on the morning of January 6.

Trump condemned Pence an hour later by tweeting, "Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify."

Later that day, pro-Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building to disrupt the certification process in an effort to overturn the election results. Five people were killed in the insurrection, including one Capitol police officer.

In recent months, the voter fraud conspiracy theory has sparked a rift in the GOP between the Trump wing and the establishment wing impatient to end his grip on the party.

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Donald Trump Blames Election Loss on Pence Certifying Biden's Win: 'Disappointed' - Newsweek

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