Mike Pence may go on foreign tour to avoid confrontation with Trump soon after certifying Biden win on Jan 6
Before Mike Pence becomes the former vice president, he has the unenviable task of presiding over the session of Congress that will formalize President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory on January 6. To avoid facing the wrath of GOP voters who continue to promote the claim that the election was stolen away from the POTUS, Pence is unofficially scheduled to leave the country for a tour of Europe and the Middle East as soon as the ritual is over.
The formalization of Biden's win would require Pence to open and count electoral votes sent from each state during the session of the Congress, a task which one White House official said was almost like someone delivering a death notice. "By no means is this going to be an easy moment for the vice president or president to stomach,” the official said.
As a result, skipping town might be a sure way out of facing the music following the session. Three US officials familiar with the planning told Politico that the VP was eyeing a foreign trip that would take him overseas for nearly a week, beginning on January 6. The outlet also reviewed a US government document that shows the vice president is due to travel to Bahrain, Israel and Poland, with a possibility of stops being added in the future. It would be Pence’s first trip abroad since last January when he traveled to Rome and Jerusalem. The timing of the trip would allow Pence to put as much distance between himself as the president and his supporters as possible.
“I suspect the timing is anything but coincidental,” one Pence ally said of his tentative travel plans. Pence aides declined to confirm the details of the trip. Meanwhile, he continues to carry on his responsibility as one of the heads of the administration. “He’s still helping out where asked by the [Trump] campaign, but the biggest help is him being in Georgia,” a senior White House official said of the vice president’s schedule.
In between his Covid-19 task force duties, Pence has traveled twice to Georgia for “Defend the Majority” rallies in support of GOP Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. He is scheduled to visit the state again on Thursday for campaign stops in Macon and Columbus. The races are vital as they will determine which party controls the Senate.
On Monday, Pence held a conference call with the nation’s governors to discuss the distribution of Pfizer’s vaccine and the anticipated approval of a second coronavirus vaccine from Moderna by the FDA later this week. "Be confident that we have cut red tape, but we've cut no corners when it comes to the development of this vaccine," Pence said Tuesday at a vaccine production center in Bloomington, Indiana. "I look forward, in the days ahead, to receiving the vaccine myself and do so without hesitation."
During a Monday night appearance on Newsmax, former Pence communications director Marc Lotter said there’s been a lack of evidence provided “that would allow [the election result] to be overturned in a court of law. “I think we have to be honest with ourselves, it’s not just one state we have to flip. … It would basically be overcoming three Mount Everest-size hurdles in three different states,” said Lotter, who also worked on the 2020 Trump campaign.