Donald Trump Has ‘No Secret Legal Maneuver Left’ To Stop Joe Biden, Legal Historian Says

Amid reports that President Donald Trump is hoping that Vice President Mike Pence will stop the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in January, Law & Crime reported legal historian Jed Shugerman’s claim that the head of state is out of licit options to overturn the outcome of the election.

“There is no secret legal maneuver left to stop a Biden presidency,” he tweeted on Christmas Day.

“Pence & [Mitch] McConnell understand these rules & are in an awkward political position of their own sad making. Any drama before or on Jan 6 will be merely a pathetic show of Trump loyalty/cowardice.”

As noted by Law & Crime, legal experts claim that Pence does not have any authority to prevent the ratification of Electoral College votes in January. Although the U.S. Constitution’s 12th Amendment states that Pence must oversee a joint session in Congress that will formally certify Biden’s victory, the publication called his role “ceremonial” and without the authority to alter or prevent the outcome.

“Implicitly, Congress does the counting,” Krugman said, point to the Constitution’s use of the word “shall” when describing vote counting.

According to the Electoral Count Act of 1887, Pence’s role will be to open the papers and certificates of the votes, which will be presented and then “acted upon in the alphabetical order” of each American state.

Trump allegedly met with Pence before the two went on their respective holidays. CNN noted that the head of state recently complained that Pence isn’t doing enough to help him and his supporters in their battle to overturn the results of the 2020 referendum. Elsewhere, the commander-in-chief retweeted a call from one of his supporters, who pushed for Pence to refuse to ratify the results of the political battle.

A person familiar with the matter told CNN that Trump has not given up hope that he could still pull off a victory.

“He’s very resolute in continuing to want to fight the Electoral College. And he still thinks it’s not over.”

Despite Trump’s perseverance, sources told CNN that Pence and White House aides have attempted to explain to Trump that the vice president has no power to alter the election’s results on January 6 and oversees the counting as a formality.

Still, Pence has continued to support the White House’s bid to contest the election while at the same time encouraging Republican voters to turn out for the crucial Georgia Senate runoffs that will determine the fate of the Senate, The Hill reported.

“We can fight for our president, and we can fight for more Republicans in the United States Senate at the same time,” he said.