Pence prevented a fall into chaos, and 3 other takeaways from Jan. 6 hearing

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."1. Had Pence not rebuffed the pressure, the country would have been thrown into chaos.

Pence faced an enormous amount of pressure to do something he had no constitutional authority to do – reject the electors' votes for president or throw it back to the states.

The 12th Amendment and the Electoral Count Act lay out a ceremonial role for the vice president to preside in

this process, not one that gives him power to essentially overturn the results of an election.

Had Pence ceded to the pressure, witnesses said Thursday, American democracy would have been significantly weakened.

Greg Jacob, a lawyer for Pence, said there would have been short-term and long-term consequences – political chaos with lawsuits and unrest in the streets and would have set a precedent establishing a situation where one person had authority to determine the outcome of an election.

Pence was determined to avoid that – despite the very real threats he faced.

Retired Judge J. Michael Luttig, who advised Pence on the vice-presidential role on Jan. 6, told the panel that because of Trump, his allies' and his supporters' continued rhetoric, they continue to represent "a clear and present danger to democracy."

Still, it was a little odd to have the story told without two of the principal characters – Trump and Pence.

"He obviously did the right thing on Jan. 6," Neal Katyal, former acting solicitor general in the Obama administration, said on MSNBC after the hearing. "Great. But the idea that he can sit on the sidelines during this hearing and not tell the American people ... not tell the Justice Department what actually happened in his words, to me, I find unforgivable. So, it's great to lionize him for what he did last year, but I want to know, and I want to hear from him what actually happened in his own words."...