leaders—not the Vice President—after raising in a conversation with Vice President Pence's brother, Congressman Greg Pence, his desire to avoid pressuring the Vice President.[257]
Moreover, as Jacob explained, "what any of the State legislatures said they did or did not want to do had no impact on the legal analysis of what the Vice President's authorities were."[258] There was simply no legal path to send any votes back to the States on January 6th.
On the stage at the President's rally on the Ellipse, Giuliani repeated a conspiracy theory about the "crooked Dominion machines . . . deliberately" changing votes via an algorithm.[259] He explained that the 10-day delay in the certification would be used "to see the machines that are crooked" and "to find criminality there"—demonstrating that his repeated assertions of a stolen election were not based on any real proof, or even evidence, of actual widespread fraud or criminality.[260] "Let's have trial by combat," Giuliani told the crowd.[261]
Eastman came to the microphone following Giuliani, and he proceeded to repeat proven falsehoods regarding voting machines. He then issued his "demand":
And all we are demanding of Vice President Pence is this afternoon, at 1:00, he let the legislatures of the state look into this so we get to the bottom of it, and the American people know whether we have control of the direction of our government, or not. We no longer live in a self-governing republic if we can't get the answer to this question. This is bigger than President Trump. It is a very essence of our republican form of government, and it has to be done. And anybody that is not willing to stand up to do it, does not deserve to be in the office. It is that simple.[262]
Eastman told the assembled crowd that nothing less than the fate of the American Republic was in Vice President Pence's hands.
President Trump Directs the Angry Mob at the Capitol to Pressure Vice President Pence.
When President Trump later took the stage at the Ellipse, he heaped praise on Giuliani and Eastman. "He's got guts, unlike a lot of people in the Republican Party," President Trump said of Giuliani. "He's got guts. He fights, he fights."[263] President Trump described Eastman as "one of the most brilliant lawyers in the country."[264] President Trump claimed that Eastman had looked at the election and said, "What an absolute disgrace that this can be happening to our Constitution."[265] Trump falsely argued that the keys to the election were in Vice President Pence's hands, saying:
