"Beyond the riot, Jan. 6 was a dangerously close call. How Trump's plot nearly succeeded: ANALYSIS"

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Jonathan Karl might be exaggerating just a bit. There are a lot of "what ifs" in here.

David Weigel Retweeted

Jan. 6 was a dangerously close call. How Trump's plot nearly succeeded.

My story today on one of the most disturbing questions about Jan 6 -- What would have happened if Pence followed Trump's orders?

@judgeluttig
says it would have been catastrophic

Link to tweet

Beyond the riot, Jan. 6 was a dangerously close call. How Trump's plot nearly succeeded: ANALYSIS
Jan. 6 was a dangerously close call. What if Trump's plan had succeeded? Analysis from ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl.

Beyond the riot, Jan. 6 was a dangerously close call. How Trump's plot nearly succeeded: ANALYSIS

ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl on the scenarios.

By Jonathan Karl
January 5, 2022, 5:58 AM • 10 min read

Two weeks after the Jan. 6 insurrection, Donald Trump walked out of the White House and Joe Biden became the 46th president of the United States. Trump had attempted to use the full power of the presidency and his position as the leader of the Republican Party to stay in power, but he failed. Democracy succeeded. Joe Biden became president, on schedule and without incident, at noon on Jan. 20, 2021.

But this was a close call. Attempts by Trump and his followers to overturn the results of the 2020 election -- multi-dimensional efforts of which the assault on the Capitol building was only one element -- came dangerously close to succeeding.

Consider, for example, Donald Trump’s demand that Vice President Mike Pence act to nullify Biden’s victory on Jan. 6. Trump wanted Pence to use his power as the presiding officer during the joint session of Congress that day to toss out Biden’s electoral votes in states Trump had contested. On its face, the idea of giving one person the power to overturn the votes of millions of Americans was absurd. And outside of a few fringe lawyers advising Trump, constitutional scholars agreed that Pence had no authority to do what Trump was demanding.

But what if Pence had followed Trump’s order? What would have happened if he had brought the gavel down during the joint session on Jan. 6 and thrown out Biden’s electoral votes in the states Trump had contested? What if he had declared Trump the winner of those states?

J. Michael Luttig, a former federal appellate judge popular among conservatives, had advised Pence he would be violating the Constitution if he followed Trump’s order, and Luttig tells ABC News that if Pence had attempted to do it, he would have "plunged the country into a constitutional crisis of the highest order."

{snip}

Jonathan Karl, ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent, is the author of "Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show."

[RKP5637]

1. And they are planning, so I've read, likely a second go around. Today's GOP is nothing but

insurrectionists and traitors + white supremacists. That, was a close call. Fortunately, Pence had the integrity to not act.

[empedocles]

2. Integrity, or whatever

[RKP5637]

3. Yep, wasn't quite sure what to call it ... whatever works well!!! Thanks!!! n/t