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Mark Meadows sent Pence a memo written by one of Trump’s election fraud attorneys detailing how he could overturn Biden’s 2020 victory, new book claims

  Roughly a week before then-Vice President   Mike Pence   certified   Joe Biden 's 2020 victory, former White House Chief of Staff Mark...

 Roughly a week before then-Vice President Mike Pence certified Joe Biden's 2020 victory, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows sent him a detailed plan written by one of Donald Trump's lawyers for how he could overturn the election results, journalist Jonathan Karl reports in his new book.

In an excerpt from the ABC correspondent's forthcoming book Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show, he details how on New Years Eve last year, the president's chief of staff tried to pressure Pence into unprecedented political waters.

Meadows allegedly emailed Pence's top aide a memo written by Jenna Ellis, who along with Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell was waging an all-out legal war against a handful of states that narrowly went to Biden that November.

The memo proposed that on January 6, Pence would object to the certification of ballots from six states where Trump baselessly alleged there was fraud, according to the excerpt released by ABC News.

Ellis reportedly wrote that Pence would then give those six states until January 15 at 7 p.m. Eastern Time to send back a different set of votes.

'No electoral votes can be opened and counted from that state' if they didn't comply or missed the deadline. 

The lawyer's argument was that it would then leave neither Trump nor Biden with a majority of votes, forcing the decision of who takes the White House onto each state's Congressional delegations.

Trump would then be reinstated if Republicans' 26-state majority voted along party lines, Ellis reasoned according to Karl.

Mark Meadows sent Pence's top aide the memo on New Years Eve, the book claims
The newly-revealed excerpt shows the extent of the pressure campaign by the Trump White House on Mike Pence in the lead-up to January 6

Mark Meadows reportedly sent Mike Pence's top aide a memo that effectively outlined instructions for overturning the 2020 election, a new book excerpt claims

But that wasn't the end of the previously-unknown pressure campaign on Pence just days before violent Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol looking for him.

The next day on January 1, John McEntee - who served as Trump's Director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office - followed up Meadows' email with another message, this time to Pence Chief of Staff Marc Short.

Karl labeled the memo 'historically incorrect.' It was titled: 'Jefferson used his position as VP to win.'

Karl details the findings in his forthcoming book on Donald Trump

Karl details the findings in his forthcoming book on Donald Trump

The journalist said, 'his message was clear: Jefferson took advantage of his position, and Pence must do the same.'

On January 6 Trump invoked Pence's name multiple times while firing up the crowd at his Stop the Steal rally.

He said Pence needed to 'do the right thing' and that 'Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us, and if he doesn't, that will be a sad day for our country.'  

In March, Karl asked Trump about a previous report that claimed Trump gave Pence a vulgar choice on the morning of January 6 ahead of the certification. 

'You can be a patriot or you can be a p***y,' Trump said to Pence according to the New York Times.

Trump told Karl he 'wouldn't dispute' the account. 

Karl asked, 'Really?'

'I wouldn't dispute it,' Trump allegedly repeated. 

During a taped interview with Karl, obtained by Axios, Trump can be heard playing down his supporters' chants of 'Hang Mike Pence' that day, saying 'the people were very angry.'


Meadows' memo was allegedly written by Jenna Ellis, who along with Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell waged an all-out legal battle over baseless election fraud claims in a handful of states

Meadows' memo was allegedly written by Jenna Ellis, who along with Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell waged an all-out legal battle over baseless election fraud claims in a handful of states

Jenna Ellis listens as Giuliani alleges 'cheating' in Michigan
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In the clip, Karl initially asks whether Trump was worried about his Vice President. 

'No, I thought he was well-protected, and I had heard that he was in good shape,' Trump replies during the interview for Karl's book 'Betrayal' at Mar-a-Lago, conducted on March 18. 'No. Because I had heard he was in very good shape.'

'Because you heard those chants — that was terrible,' Karl replies. 'He could have — well, the people were very angry,' Trump says.

'They were saying "hang Mike Pence,"' Karl pushes.

'Because it's common sense, Jon. It's common sense that you're supposed to protect,' Trump replies. 'How can you — if you know a vote is fraudulent, right?' he says, touting the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent.

'How can you pass on a fraudulent vote to Congress? How can you do that?'

The new audio was released after a federal appeals court gave Trump lawyers until November 30 to argue that White House documents from January 6 should not be handed to the Democrat-led committee investigating the riot. 

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