By — Associated Press Associated Press By — Kenichi Serino Kenichi Serino Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-luttig-says-pence-had-no-constitutional-right-to-overturn-election-despite-trumps-claims Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter WATCH: Luttig says Pence had no constitutional right to overturn election, despite Trump’s claims Politics Jun 16, 2022 2:57 PM EDT Retired federal Judge Michael Luttig slammed the memo authored by conservative attorney John Eastman, claiming that Vice President Mike Pence could reject duly ascertained electoral votes on January 6, 2021 during a joint session of Congress. Watch Luttig’s remarks in the player above. “There was no support whatsoever, either in the Constitution of the United States, nor the laws of the United States for the vice president, frankly, ever to count alternative electoral slates from the states that had not been officially certified by the designated state official in the Electoral Count Act of 1887,” said retired federal judge Michael Luttig. WATCH: Jan. 6 committee hearings – Day 3 The House panel intended to show that Trump’s false claims of a fraudulent election left him grasping for alternatives as courts turned back dozens of lawsuits challenging the vote. Trump latched onto Eastman’s obscure plan and launched a public and private pressure campaign on Pence days before the vice president was to preside over the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress to certify Joe Biden’s election victory. READ MORE: Who is J. Michael Luttig and why is he testifying in the Jan. 6 hearings? Luttig told the Jan. 6 committee that if former Vice President Mike Pence carried out President Donald Trump’s demand to not count electoral votes won by President Joe Biden in the 2020 election, it would have amounted to a constitutional crisis. “That declaration of Donald Trump as the next president would have plunged America into what I believe would have been tantamount to a revolution within a constitutional crisis in America, which, in my view, … would have been the first constitutional crisis since the founding of the republic,” Luttig said. The hearing was the third of several planned by the Jan. 6 committee that focused on Trump’s efforts to pressure Pence to reject Congress’ official count of Electoral College votes on the day of the attack. In the year since its creation, the committee has conducted more than 1,000 interviews, seeking critical information and documents from people witness to, or involved in, the violence that day. The committee postponed a hearing scheduled for June 15 that was meant to focus on Trump’s efforts to replace Attorney General Bill Barr, who did not support his claims of voter fraud after the election. By — Associated Press Associated Press By — Kenichi Serino Kenichi Serino
Retired federal Judge Michael Luttig slammed the memo authored by conservative attorney John Eastman, claiming that Vice President Mike Pence could reject duly ascertained electoral votes on January 6, 2021 during a joint session of Congress. Watch Luttig’s remarks in the player above. “There was no support whatsoever, either in the Constitution of the United States, nor the laws of the United States for the vice president, frankly, ever to count alternative electoral slates from the states that had not been officially certified by the designated state official in the Electoral Count Act of 1887,” said retired federal judge Michael Luttig. WATCH: Jan. 6 committee hearings – Day 3 The House panel intended to show that Trump’s false claims of a fraudulent election left him grasping for alternatives as courts turned back dozens of lawsuits challenging the vote. Trump latched onto Eastman’s obscure plan and launched a public and private pressure campaign on Pence days before the vice president was to preside over the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress to certify Joe Biden’s election victory. READ MORE: Who is J. Michael Luttig and why is he testifying in the Jan. 6 hearings? Luttig told the Jan. 6 committee that if former Vice President Mike Pence carried out President Donald Trump’s demand to not count electoral votes won by President Joe Biden in the 2020 election, it would have amounted to a constitutional crisis. “That declaration of Donald Trump as the next president would have plunged America into what I believe would have been tantamount to a revolution within a constitutional crisis in America, which, in my view, … would have been the first constitutional crisis since the founding of the republic,” Luttig said. The hearing was the third of several planned by the Jan. 6 committee that focused on Trump’s efforts to pressure Pence to reject Congress’ official count of Electoral College votes on the day of the attack. In the year since its creation, the committee has conducted more than 1,000 interviews, seeking critical information and documents from people witness to, or involved in, the violence that day. The committee postponed a hearing scheduled for June 15 that was meant to focus on Trump’s efforts to replace Attorney General Bill Barr, who did not support his claims of voter fraud after the election.