"If Vice President comes through for us, we will win the Presidency," Mr Trump tweeted around 1am. The pressure continued through the night. The tensions were so high that Mr Pence's chief-of-staff, Marc Short, placed a call to Mr Pence's lead Secret Service agent that day, The New York Times first reported, informing him that the vice-president's refusal to go along with Mr Trump was about to become public. That day, Mr Jacob sent a memo putting in writing his conclusion that if Mr Pence followed Mr Eastman's proposal, he would likely lose in court, at best, or spark a constitutional crisis, Politico first reported. Mr Pence by then made clear that he was unconvinced. Mr Trump continued to push in an Oval Office meeting the next day, where he again urged Mr Pence to use powers the vice-president did not possess to overturn the will of voters. "I hope Mike Pence comes through for us," he told the crowd. He also received outside counsel, including from former vice-president Dan Quayle. Pence spent hours huddling with staff, including his general counsel, Greg Jacob, studying the Electoral Count Act of 1887, which governs the proceedings, and met with the Senate parliamentarian to understand his role. The heavy-handed pressure campaign intensified in the days leading up to the 6th as Mr Trump, lawyer John Eastman and others in Mr Trump's orbit tried to convince Mr Pence that he had the power to overturn the will of voters in a handful of critical battleground states by simply rejecting Electoral College votes or sending the results back to the states - even though the Constitution makes clear the vice-president's role in the proceedings is largely ceremonial. As Mr Trump's frantic efforts to stave off defeat were quashed by courts and state officials, he and his allies zeroed in on January 6 - the day a joint session of Congress would convene to formalise president-elect Joe Biden's victory - as their last chance to remain in power.
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