Mr. Trump's Pressure on the Vice President

Mr. Trump's Pressure on the Vice President

¶Mr. Trump wanted no one else speaking with Vice President Pence because he and co-conspirators were already implementing a secret plan to use Mr. Pence's ministerial role as President of the Senate to Mr. Trump's advantage. Co-Conspirator 2, with assistance from Co-Conspirators 5 and 6, spearheaded the execution of a strategy-which Co-Conspirator 2 had recently conceded was not supported by the Constitution or federal law 80-for Mr. Pence to decline to count the legitimate electoral certificates in the targeted states where Mr. Trump's electors had signed fraudulent ones.⁸¹⁸¹ See ECF No. 252 at 65 & n.352; SCO-12184337, SCO-12184338 (Email and memo from Co-Conspirator 2 to Co-Conspirator 5 and Co-Conspirator 6 12/23/2020); SCO-12101300, SCO-12101301 (Email and memo from Co-Conspirator 2 to Co-Conspirator 6 01/03/2021). See, e.g., ECF No. 1 at~ 90; see ECF No. 252 at 62-74; see, e.g., SCO-00014655 at 157-182; SCO-00014442 at 29-43 (Pence, So Help Me God pp. 441-455); SCO-04982306 (Handwritten notes 12/25/2020); SCO-04982309Show full note In the weeks before the certification, Mr. Trump began pressuring Mr. Pence to cooperate, both directly and by mobilizing Mr. Trump's supporters.

¶In repeated conversations, day after day, Mr. Trump pressed Mr. Pence to use his ministerial position as President of the Senate to change the election outcome, often by citing false claims of election fraud as justification; he even falsely told Mr. Pence that the "Justice Department [was] finding major infractions." 82 When Mr. Pence repeatedly refused to act as Mr.

Trump wanted,⁸³⁸³ See, e.g., ECF No. 252 at 62 & nn.332-333, 63 & n.338, 65 & nn.349-350, 71 & nn.394-395; SCO-00014655 at 157-182; SCO-00014442 at 29-43 (Pence, So Help Me God pp. 441-455); SCO-04982330 (Handwritten notes 01/04/2021); SCO-04982320 at 2 (Handwritten notes 01/06/2021) (noting "I don't have the authority"). Mr. Trump told him that "hundreds of thousands" of people would "hate his guts" and think he was "stupid," and that Mr. Pence was "too honest."⁸⁴⁸⁴ See ECF No. 252 at 63 & n.338; SCO-00014442 at 34 (Pence, So Help Me Godp. 446). Surrounding these

¶communications, Mr. Trump frequently took to Twitter to exhort supporters to travel to

¶Washington for January 6, such as when he tweeted on January 1, "The BIG Protest Rally in Washington, D.C., will take place at 11.00 A.M. on January 6th. Locational details to follow. StopTheSteal!"⁸⁵⁸⁵ See, e.g., ECF No. 252 at 64 & n.340; SCO-00455068, SCO-12987393 (Donald J. Trump Tweet 01/01/2021); see also, e.g., SCO-00455147, SCO-12987408 (Donald J. Trump Tweet 12/26/2020).

¶On January 4, two days before the certification proceeding, Mr. Trump arranged for Mr. Pence to meet with Co-Conspirator 2 in the Oval Office, in hopes that Co-Conspirator 2 could convince Mr. Pence to accede.⁸⁶⁸⁶ See ECF No. 252 at 64 & nn.344-345, 65 & n.353; SCO-11618747 at 156-158, 166-169 (Text messages from Co-Conspirator 601/02/2021-01/05/2021); SCO-02301015 at 4 (Presidential Daily Diary 01/04/2021). During the meeting, Co-Conspirator 2 outlined two ways that he claimed Mr. Pence could affect the election outcome using his role in the certification: he could reject the legitimate electors outright-denying Mr. Biden an electoral majority and likely sending the selection of the President to the House of Representatives, where fellow Republicans controlled the majority of state delegations-or he could send the elector slates to targeted states' legislatures for them to choose which electoral votes should be counted-affording Republican­ controlled legislatures the opportunity to reject Mr. Biden's electors and replace them with Mr. Trump's.⁸⁷⁸⁷ See ECF No. 252 at 66 & n.362; SCO-00007167 at 50-51; SCO-11527024 at 187-189 (Int. Tr.); SCO-00016118 at 73-74; SCO-00014442 at 38-39 (Pence, So Help Me God pp. 450-451 ). In response to Mr. Pence's questioning, Co-Conspirator 2 admitted that both

¶(Handwritten notes 12/29/2020); SCO-049823 13 (Handwritten notes 0 l /02/2021 ); SCO-04982315 (Handwritten notes 01/03/2021); SCO-04982330 (Handwritten notes 01/04/2021).

¶proposals violated the ECA and were untested.⁸⁸⁸⁸ See ECF No. 252 at 67 & n.363; SCO-00014442 at 38-39 (Pence, So Help Me God pp. 450-451); SCO-00007167 at 52-53; SCO-00016118 at 75-76. When Mr. Pence turned to Mr. Trump and pointed out that even "[Mr. Trump's] lawyer," Co-Conspirator 2, did not think Mr. Pence had the authority to return electoral votes to the states, Mr. Trump responded that he "like[d] the other thing better," which Mr. Pence understood to mean Mr. Pence simply rejecting the electoral votes outright.⁸⁹⁸⁹ See ECF No. 252 at 67 & n.364; SCO-00014442 at 39 (Pence, So Help Me God p. 451); SCO-00007167 at 51; SCO-00016118 at 74-78. In the end, Mr. Pence again stated that he did not believe he could do what he was being asked.⁹⁰⁹⁰ See ECF No. 252 at 67 & n.366; SCO-00014442 at 39 (Pence, So Help 1\;fe Godp. 451); SCO-00007167 at 55-56.

¶That night, Mr. Trump used a speech in Dalton, Georgia, to focus the crowd on the idea that Mr. Pence could change the results of the election, saying, "I hope Mike Pence comes through for us, I have to tell you. I hope that our great Vice President, our great Vice President comes through for us. . . . Of course, if he doesn't come through, I won't like him quite as much."⁹¹⁹¹ See ECF No. 252 at 68 & n.371; SCO-02235176 at 3 (Remarks by Mr. Trump at Victory Rally in Dalton, GA 01/04/2021); SCO-04976283 at 10:56-11:15 (Video of Dalton, GA speech 01/04/2021). The next day, on January 5, when Mr. Trump again failed to make headway with Mr. Pence in a private conversation, Mr. Trump warned that he would have to publicly criticize Mr. Pence.⁹²⁹² See ECF No. 252 at 71 & nn.392-396; SCO-00016118 at 107-110; SCO-00014655 at 189, 193-200; SCO-00014442 at 41-42 (Pence, So Help 1v!e God pp. 453-454); SCO-04982319 (Handwritten notes 01/05/2021). Mr. Trump then (in response to a New York Times report on the conversation between Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence) issued a false statement claiming, "The Vice President and I are in total agreement that the Vice President has the power to act."⁹³⁹³ See ECF No. 252 at 72 & n.404; SCO-00444946 (Donald J. Trump Campaign Statement 01/05/2021); SCO-00016118 at 134-136; SCO-11545613 at 152-153 (Int. Tr.); SCO-00829440 at 222-225 (HSC Tr.); SCO- 00810832 at 172-177 (HSC Tr.).