Pence asks judge to reject GOP lawsuit seeking to overturn US poll results

US Vice President Mike Pence asked a federal judge in Texas to deny a Republican congressman’s emergency request for a court order that would essentially allow the vice president to reverse Donald Trump’s election loss during a joint session of Congress.

Representative Louie Gohmert of Texas should have sued the US Senate or the House of Representatives if he disagrees with the established way that Electoral College votes are counted, Justice Department attorneys representing Pence said in a filing. “The vice president — the only defendant in this case — is ironically the very person whose power they seek to promote,” the government said. “The Senate and the House, not the vice president, have legal interests that are sufficiently adverse to plaintiffs.”

Gohmert argues Pence can hand Trump a second term by simply rejecting swing states’ slates of Democratic electors and instead choosing competing GOP electors when the Senate and House meet jointly to open and count certificates of electoral votes.

Election experts have said such a finding would create a major conflict of interest.