President Donald Trump on Monday put the spotlight on Vice President Mike Pence as the nation moves closer to Wednesday’s vote to certify the results of the Electoral College.
Trump spoke at a rally aimed at helping Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue win runoff elections being held Tuesday in Georgia.
“The radical Democrats are trying to capture Georgia’s Senate seats so they could wield unchecked, unrestrained, absolute power over every aspect of your lives,” the president said during the event at the Dalton Municipal Airport in northwest Georgia.
“If the liberal Democrats take the Senate and the White House — and they’re not taking this White House, we’re going to fight like hell,” he said.
“There’s nothing that the radical Democrats will not do to get power that they so desperately crave, even the outright stealing of elections like they’re trying to do with us — we’re not going to let it happen,” Trump said.
“I hope that Mike Pence comes through for us, I have to tell you. I hope that our great vice president, our great vice president comes through for us. He’s a great guy,” the president said.
A buzz went through the crowd when Trump followed that up by saying, “Of course, if he doesn’t come through, I won’t like him quite as much.”
“Nah, Mike is a great guy,” the president said. “He’s a wonderful man and a smart man and a man that I like a lot.
“But he’s gonna have a lot to say about it. He — you know one thing with him: You’re going to get straight shots. He’s going to call it straight.”
As part of his duties as vice president, Pence will preside over the joint session of Congress that will be held Wednesday to certify the results of the Electoral College.
The ritual process will be very different this year because Republicans in the House and Senate have said they will file objections to the vote, which will trigger separate sessions of each chamber as they debate the objections.
Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas sued to have Pence be given the authority to decide which states’ electoral votes should count, but that suit was tossed out.
Pence referenced the upcoming session Tuesday while he was stumping for Perdue and Loeffler in Georgia.
“I promise you, come this Wednesday, we’ll have our day in Congress. We’ll hear the objections. We’ll hear the evidence,” Pence said, according to USA Today.
On Saturday, Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, said in a statement that Pence “shares the concerns of millions of Americans about voter fraud and irregularities in the last election,” according to NPR.
“The Vice President welcomes the efforts of members of the House and Senate to use the authority they have under the law to raise objections and bring forward evidence before the Congress and the American people on January 6th,” Short said.
The Electoral College last month declared Democratic candidate Joe Biden the winner of the Nov. 3 vote.
Trump’s campaign has insisted that voter fraud in several key states, including Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, swung the election to Biden.
However, despite numerous claims of voting irregularities, including affidavits alleging fraud sworn to by reported eyewitnesses, no court has yet ruled that widespread fraud materially affected the results of the presidential election.
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