White House trade adviser Peter Navarro says Vice President Mike Pence can unilaterally keep President Trump in office past Jan. 20.
Navarro made the claim Saturday night on the Fox News show Justice with Judge Jeanine. According to Navarro, when Pence presides over a joint session of Congress Wednesday to count and certify electoral votes, the vice president can demand an investigation over voter fraud and extend Trump’s time in office.
“It can be changed, actually,” Navarro said. “We can go past that date if we need to.”
But Navarro might want to take a look at the Constitution’s 20th Amendment.
“The terms of the President and the Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January,” says Section I.
The constitutional provision dictates Trump will no longer be president in a bit under 17 days. The only way to change the parameters of a president’s term is by constitutional amendment, an arduous process requiring support from two-thirds of the House and Senate and three-fourths of the states.
All 50 states and the District of Columbia have certified results from the Nov. 3 presidential election. The Trump campaign and allies have filed dozens of lawsuits challenging those state certifications. They’ve all been rejected in state and federal courts.
Pence, as president of the Senate, is set to preside over a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, in which the electoral votes are counted and Joe Biden is officially made the president-elect after he beat Trump 306-232.
Pence’s role is strictly ceremonial, but Navarro and outside advisers such as lawyer Sidney Powell claim wrongly that the vice president has the power to overturn the election by rejecting some of Biden’s electors.
A dozen Republican senators, led by Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, plan to challenge votes from states where Biden won relatively narrowly, calling for an “emergency 10-day audit” to investigate Trump’s unfounded claims. Navarro says that 10-day period could run past Jan. 20.
However, the House has a Democratic majority, and enough senators in the GOP-controlled chamber are set to oppose Trump’s claims that victory for the incumbent is virtually impossible.
“The Vice President has no authority to accept or reject electoral votes,” tweeted University of Texas law professor Steven Vladeck. “Only the House and Senate chambers themselves — by *majority* votes — have any authority to actually reject duly certified electors. A lot of people who have been told otherwise are going to be disappointed.”
The Vice President has no authority to accept or reject electoral votes. Only the House and Senate chambers themselves — by *majority* votes — have any authority to actually reject duly certified electors. A lot of people who have been told otherwise are going to be disappointed.
— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) January 3, 2021
Under the Constitution’s 25th Amendment, if somehow Biden were denied the necessary 270 electoral votes to claim the White House, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would be acting president until the election dispute got resolved. The California Democrat is among Trump’s most prominent political opponents and led the drive to impeach him in late 2019.
