‘Snake oil sellers’ have advised Trump on the 2020 elections, says Pence’s aide Reuters

By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former President Donald Trump received bad advice from “snake oil sellers” who falsely told him that Vice President Mike Pence has the power to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election, said former Pence chief of staff Marc Short.

“Unfortunately, the president had a lot of bad advisers who were basically snake oil vendors giving him really random and new ideas about what the vice president might do,” Short said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” show on Sunday.

Short’s comments came two days after Pence rebuked Trump in a speech to a conservative federalist society, saying Trump was wrong to suggest the vice president had the power to annul the election.

“I believe Joe Biden is the duly elected president of the United States,” Short said on Sunday. “The reality is that there have not been enough significant frauds to undo the elections in those states.”

Short, who was with Pence on Jan. 6, 2021, when a crowd of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in a failed attempt to undo the election results, recently appeared before the House Committee on Investigating the Siege to answer questions.

During the attack, some of the rioters shouted “Hang Mike Pence!” and one now convicted https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-seeks-four-years-prison-capitol-rioter-qanon-shaman-2021-11-17 Trump supporters known as “QAnon Shaman” left was a message to the vice president that read, “It’s only a matter of time, justice is coming.”

Last week, the National Archives announced it would hand over Pence’s documentation to the council, after Trump lost a legal offer to block access to the board.

Short did not discuss the details of his testimony on Sunday, saying only that he complied with the subpoena.

However, he questioned whether Pence would ever appear before the board to testify, telling NBC “it would be an unprecedented step”.

“I think it’s very different to invite a former vice president to talk about private conversations he’s had with the president,” Short said. – It’s never happened before.

The committee is investigating whether anyone in Trump’s inner circle helped plan the attack on the Capitol. It also examines what steps Trump has taken to stay in power.

New details surfaced last week in media reports suggesting Trump is actively investigating whether the U.S. government has the power to seize voting machines.

Reuters confirmed that Trump raised the issue at a meeting with former Attorney General William Barr in late November 2020, telling Barr that his legal team had told him the Justice Department was sitting on its hands when it could seize voting machines, according to one person. familiar with matter.

Barr immediately shut down the idea, saying the department did not have such power, the person added.

Speaking to NBC on Sunday, Short said he had not personally heard that Trump was interested in seizing voting machines.