Greg Jacob, a former advisor to Vice President Mike Pence, testified June 16 before the House Jan. 6 committee’, detailing many of the conversations he had with conservative lawyer John Eastman, who advised President Donald Trump in the run-up to the Capitol attack that Pence could reject electoral votes.
Jacob recalled in one of these meetings, he posed to Eastman that this had not been done prior in the nation’s history, including when former Vice President Al Gore presided over the count for his own loss in 2000 – despite that election having also been contested in the courts.
“Back in 2000, you weren’t jumping up and saying ‘Al Gore had this authority.’ You would not want Kamala Harris to exercise that kind of authority in 2024, when I hope Republicans will win the election, and I know you hope that too,” Jacob said.
“[Eastman] said ‘Absolutely, Al Gore did not have a basis in 2000. Kamala Harris shouldn’t be able to do it in 2024, but I think you should do it today,’” Jacob recounted Eastman saying.
The hearing was the third of several planned by the Jan. 6 committee that focused on Trump’s efforts to pressure Pence to overturn the 2020 election results in his duties overseeing Congress’ count of Electoral College votes.
In the year since its creation, the committee has conducted more than 1,000 interviews, seeking critical information and documents from people witness to, or involved in, the violence that day.
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