Recent court filings have shed light on the intense pressure former President Donald Trump exerted on his vice president, Mike Pence, to overturn the 2020 election results. The documents detail a series of interactions between Trump and Pence, culminating in the events leading up to the January 6th Capitol insurrection.
According to the filings, Trump repeatedly urged Pence to take action to prevent the certification of Joe Biden's victory, warning him that failure to do so would result in public backlash. Trump's efforts to challenge the election results included a plan known as 'Operation Pence Card,' in which he sought to persuade Pence to help him stay in power.
Despite Pence's refusal to endorse Trump's bid to return to the White House, Trump continued to push the vice president to intervene in the electoral process. The filings reveal that Trump and his legal team, led by Rudy Giuliani, devised a plan to create alternate slates of electors in key states that Trump had lost.
As the January 6th certification date approached, Trump escalated his pressure on Pence, falsely claiming that the vice president had the authority to reject electoral votes during the proceedings. Trump's public statements and private conversations with Pence painted a picture of a president determined to cling to power at any cost.
The filings also highlight Pence's efforts to persuade Trump to accept the election results and consider running again in the future. Despite Pence's appeals for Trump to respect the rule of law, Trump remained steadfast in his refusal to concede.
The tense interactions between Trump and Pence culminated in a series of events on January 6th, including Trump's public criticism of Pence and his incitement of a crowd of supporters to storm the Capitol. The filings paint a vivid picture of a president willing to go to extreme lengths to overturn the election results, even at the expense of his own vice president's safety.
