By Mary Papenfuss
In the latest stunning development in Republican attempts to upend a democratic presidential election, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro falsely insisted Saturday night that Vice President Mike Pence can arbitrarily postpone Inauguration Day.
The Constitution clearly states that Inauguration Day is Jan. 20, and Donald Trump and Pence’s terms end at noon that day.
Navarro in an interview on Fox News’ “Justice With Judge Jeanine” called for yet another investigation into the presidential election to probe baseless allegations of fraud, and appeared to refer to a demand Saturday for a 10-day audit of election returns by 11 GOP senators.
If an investigation continues past Jan. 20, the inauguration will simply have to be put off, Navarro said.
“Vice President Pence, he has the authority to give that 10-day window to do what needs to get done,” Navarro insisted, as host Jeanine Pirro nodded. “I cannot imagine when he looks at the facts he won’t vote the right way on that.”
Pirro claimed that the “10-day window” can change the date for certification of electoral votes that’s supposed to happen Wednesday. But, she added: “January 20 cannot be changed; that’s constitutional.”
“It can be changed, actually,” Navarro insisted. “We can go past that date. We can go past that date, if we need to. And we have got to get this right … We need to take [the election] back for the people.”
Pirro piped up: “Oh! OK.”
Navarro ironically explained to Pirro: “The one thing we shouldn’t be strategically gaming is the foundation of this republic.”
The 20th Amendment of the Constitution, Section 1, very clearly states: “The terms of the President and the Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January ... and the terms of their successors shall then begin.”
In one small aside, Navarro, whose salary is paid by American taxpayers, is not supposed to be campaigning for Trump and bashing President-elect Joe Biden’s election under the terms of the Hatch Act. He has violated the law before, but without any consequences, so is clearly unconcerned about it.
Twitter critics predictably went bonkers.
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