Trump presses Pence in an Oval Office meeting after Eastman concedes statutory violations

Date: 2021-01-04
Entry type: vice-presidential-pressure
Current status: Pence rejected the proposal; Congress later counted the certified votes

Pence's counsel recorded that Eastman's reject-or-delay proposal violated several provisions of the Electoral Count Act.

Entities and roles

Donald J. Trumpvice president and running mateMike Pence
politicaldocumented2 sourcesCited claim 1

factdocumented
Trump, Pence, John Eastman, Marc Short, and Greg Jacob met in the Oval Office. Jacob testified that Eastman acknowledged both proposed paths—rejecting electoral votes or delaying the count—conflicted with the Electoral Count Act. Trump nevertheless continued pressing Pence. The illegality assessment came from Pence's counsel and was acknowledged by the plan's author before the requested act.
- United States Government Publishing Office: Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States CapitolExecutive Summary pages 31–33: January 4 meeting, Jacob memorandum, and Eastman acknowledgment
- Associated Press: Filing in Trump case details remarkable schism with Pence over rejecting 2020 election lossPence's contemporaneous notes from the January 4 White House meeting, the plan presented, and Pence's response