"The only responsibility and power of the Vice President under the Constitution is to faithfully count the electoral college votes as they have been cast," Judge Luttig wrote. "The Constitution does not empower the Vice President to alter in any way the votes that have been cast, either by rejecting certain of them or otherwise."[187]
Confusion in the media about where the Vice President stood on this issue prompted former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan to reach out to the Vice President to share his belief that the Vice President had no unilateral authority.[188] Short also spoke with former Speaker Ryan and as he testified to the Select Committee, "I said to him, Mr. Speaker, you know Mike . . . you know he recognizes that. And we sort of laughed about it, and he said, I get it."[189]
The Vice President also consulted with former Vice President Dan Quayle, who reinforced and affirmed Vice President Pence's consistent understanding of his role.[190]
JANUARY 5, 2021: PRESIDENT TRUMP AGAIN PRESSURES VICE PRESIDENT PENCE IN A ONE-ON-ONE MEETING AT THE WHITE HOUSE AND ANOTHER PHONE CALL WITH EASTMAN.
President Trump demanded to see Vice President Pence again that same
day. Vice President Pence had canceled a planned lunch with President
Trump, intending to work on the statement he planned to issue on January 6th to explain publicly why he wouldn't bow to the President's pressure.[191] But Pence couldn't avoid Trump. Vice President Pence had to delay a Coronavirus Task Force meeting later that same day when he was called to the Oval Office to meet with the President.[192]
The two men met alone, without staff present. While we have not developed direct evidence of what was discussed during this one-on-one meeting between the President and Vice President, it did not change the fundamental disagreement between them about the limits of the Vice President's authority during the joint session. Jacob said the Vice President left the meeting "determined."[193] Vice President Pence did tell Marc Short what transpired during the meeting, but Short refused to tell the Select Committee what was said.[194] Short described Vice President Pence's demeanor as "steady."[195] Short testified that the below excerpt from the book Peril may have been sensationalized but was generally consistent with Short's understanding of the discussion:
"If these people say you have the power, wouldn't you want to?" Trump asked.
"I wouldn't want any one person to have that authority," Pence said.
