Pence keeps distance from oddball scheme to overturn election

A plot rejected by Veep?

The fringiest Donald Trump die-hards trying to overturn Joe Biden's election have hopped into every rabbit hole on the legal front. So why not this: Ask a federal judge to rule that Vice President Mike Pence has a hitherto-undiscovered constitutional and transcendent power to decide some electoral votes are real but others are bogus.

It appeared on Tuesday that Pence wants no part of this scheme, even as Trump is reportedly looking upon his loyal defender with growing scorn for, in his view, not doing enough to go to bat for him. Lawyers for Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and Arizona’s 11 Republican electors, echoing the president's baseless fraud claims, revealed in court papers that Pence declined to sign on to their plan, Politico reported.

Gohmert's lawyers said they got in touch with the Office of the Counsel of the Vice President and eventually held a meeting by phone with Pence’s lawyer, according to Bloomberg News. Gohmert argues that Pence should be able to pick competing slates of electors chosen by Republican-led state legislatures in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

But Pence's lawyers didn't buy into Gohmert's theory on how the Electoral College vote, cast on Dec. 14, is accepted by Congress. "Those discussions were not successful in reaching an agreement and this lawsuit was filed," Gohmert said. The resulting lawsuit named Pence as a defendant.

Politico wrote that it's the first indication that Pence is resisting some of the most extreme calls to reverse the presidential election results, though he has not publicly weighed in on his plans for presiding over the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress that certifies the outcome.

Legal experts said the lawsuit was meritless and would probably be dismissed by a federal judge for multiple reasons, The Washington Post wrote. Among other things, the suit envisions the vice president as having the power to choose presidential electors from disputed states. But no state legislature actually agreed to reject the Nov. 3 election and appoint alternate electors. Informal groups of Trump supporters met in some states' capitols and appointed themselves electors in ceremonies that had no force of law.

Trevor Potter, a Republican election law expert, told the Post that Gohmert's idea "would stand the Constitution on its head. It would effectively deliver to the vice president the right to determine who won the presidential election. If the vice president has authority to pick his favorite electors, then you wouldn’t need a Congress or a Constitution."

Operation Warp Speed bumps

Frustration is building with the federal rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, CBS News reports. The Trump administration had pledged 20 million first-of-two doses dispensed by year's end, but with two days to go, not even 3 million shots have been given and just over 11 million doses have been shipped.

Biden on Tuesday criticized the Trump administration for the sluggish distribution, part of Operation Warp Speed, which also led to quick development of the vaccines.

"As I long feared and warned, the effort to distribute and administer the vaccine is not progressing as it should," Biden said. If the pace doesn't pick up, "it’s gonna take years, not months, to vaccinate the American people," the president-elect said.

Trump tweeted Tuesday evening that it "is up to the States to distribute the vaccines once brought to the designated areas by the Federal Government." Biden said he has directed his incoming team to prepare a "much more aggressive effort, with more federal involvement and leadership, to get things back on track."

But Biden also warned somberly: "We need to be honest — the next few weeks and months are going to be very tough, very tough for our nation. Maybe the toughest during this entire pandemic."

Trump hits GOP 'death wish'

The president's wrath at Republicans in the Senate is growing as he presses for approval of $2,000 stimulus payments to Americans and other unrelated demands. Trump's tweet earlier Tuesday rolled them into a spitball:

"Unless Republicans have a death wish, and it is also the right thing to do, they must approve the $2,000 payments ASAP. $600 IS NOT ENOUGH! Also, get rid of Section 230 - Don’t let Big Tech steal our Country, and don’t let the Democrats steal the Presidential Election. Get tough!" Trump also is waging war on Section 230 — a legal shield for social media companies over users' content on the platforms — in revenge for clampdowns on disinformation he posts.

Democrats wanted a stand-alone vote on the $2,000 direct payments, which passed the House on Monday, but a 60-vote majority is needed in the Senate. It's uncertain whether enough Republican senators would abandon their resistance to the bigger checks, though more have warmed to the idea. Trump on Sunday, after dayslong standoff, signed a coronavirus relief package, which included $600 in direct payments to individuals, and a government-funding omnibus bill.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell filed legislation Tuesday to package the $2,000 payments with a Section 230 repeal and the creation of a bipartisan commission to review the election, even though he and other GOP leaders have accepted Biden's victory. The latter two provisions could be hard for Democrats to swallow, leading all three to fail, though Republicans could claim they tried to get Americans more money even while sinking the stand-alone version of the $2,000 plan.

"Senator McConnell knows how to make $2,000 survival checks reality and he knows how to kill them," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. "If Sen. McConnell tries loading up the bipartisan House-passed CASH Act with unrelated, partisan provisions that will do absolutely nothing to help struggling families across the country."

McConnell and the Republicans also want to complete an override of Trump's veto of a defense policy, prompting another Trump tweet against "weak and tired Republican ‘leadership.’ "

A win Trump can admire

It took until the twilight of his presidency, but Trump is finally No. 1 on the Gallup Poll's list of men admired by Americans. It wasn't exactly a landslide, though.

Trump was named by 18% of respondents, ending a 12-year run in first place by former President Barack Obama, who had 15%. Rounding out the top five were Biden (6%), Dr. Anthony Fauci (3%) and Pope Francis (2%.)

Former first lady Michelle Obama was the most admired woman for the third straight year, at 10%, followed by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris (6%), first lady Melania Trump (4%), Oprah Winfrey (3%) and Angela Merkel (2%.)

So much wrong about 2020

Trump was the runaway winner in a Politico compilation of the worst predictions of 2020, which listed no fewer than 15 quotes from the president from March to October on how the coronavirus was going away.

The also-rans included former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who forecast after the presidential race was called for Biden that Trump "will concede gracefully." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in August that under the "most pessimistic" outlook, her party would gain at least 10 seats in the election. Democrats suffered a net loss of at least 10 in the House.

Democratic strategist Paul Begala predicted repeatedly between March and August that Trump would dump Pence and make former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley his running mate. Meanwhile, Pence said confidently in June there would be no coronavirus "second wave."

More coronavirus news

See a roundup of the latest regional pandemic developments from Long Island and beyond by Newsday's reporting staff, written by Lisa L. Colangelo. For a full list of Newsday's coronavirus stories, click here.

What else is happening:

• When Trump arrived at Mar-a-Lago on Dec. 22, he got his first look at the renovations to his private quarters largely overseen by Melania Trump and was angry at what he saw, CNN reported. He ordered the removal of some pieces of the new décor that consisted of white marble and dark wood.
• Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance's office has retained forensic accounting specialists to aid its criminal investigation of Trump and his business operations, as prosecutors ramp up their scrutiny of his company's real estate transactions, people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post.
• The congressional committee planning Biden’s scaled-down swearing-in ceremonies canceled the traditional inaugural luncheon, saying even a modified bread-breaking is no longer possible due to the coronavirus, Bloomberg News reported. The luncheon has traditionally served as a symbol of bipartisanship during the transfer of power.
• Washington's Hotel Harrington, which has become a hangout for the Proud Boys, has decided to shut down from Jan. 4-6, rather than have them as guests. The decision was made "to protect the safety of our visitors, guests and employees," a statement said. The far-right, streetfighting group is answering Trump's call for a "wild" protest in Washington on Jan. 6, when Congress is scheduled to formally certify Biden's election results.
• Now that retired Gen. Mike Flynn has gotten attention by calling for military intervention to overturn the election, he's promoting an online store to sell QAnon conspiracy-cult hats and T-shirts, The Daily Beast reports. Flynn’s son Michael Flynn Jr. said the proceeds would support his father and "his army of Digital Soldiers in the fight against fake news."
• Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, received their first doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday. The incoming vice president got her shot on camera to help promote public trust in the inoculations.