Retired federal judge Michael Luttig, one of two witnesses testifying Thursday at the House select committee hearing on the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, told lawmakers there is no support in either the Constitution or the laws of the United States "to count alternative slates of electors."
Luttig, a staunch conservative and and George H.W. Bush-appointed circuit judge, debunked the theory that Vice President Mike Pence had the power to recognize alternative electors.
Then-President Donald Trump had seized on the unorthodox proposal from conservative law professor John Eastman to have Pence turn back electors from seven states when he presided over Congress to certify the election results on Jan. 6. 2021.
"There was no basis in the Constitution or the laws of the United States at all for the theories espoused by Mr. Eastman. None."
Get New England news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NECN newsletters.
"Had the Vice President of the United States obeyed the President of the United States, America would immediately have been plunged into what would have been tantamount to a revolution within a paralyzing constitutional crisis,” Luttig added.
In earlier testimony, Greg Jacob, Pence's general counsel, recounted Pence's skeptic reaction to the plan, detailing how the the vice president said their was "no way" the framers of the Constitution would have put one person — especially someone who was on the ticket — in charge of deciding the outcome of the 2020 election.
This is a live update. Click here for complete coverage of the Jan. 6 hearings.
