WASHINGTON (NEWSnet/AP) — Donald Trump's defense attorney says the former president never asked then-vice president Mike Pence to overturn the decision of the voters in the 2020 election, but simply requested to “pause” the certification of votes to allow states to investigate his claims of election fraud. Those claims already had been rejected by numerous courts.

Attorney John Lauro, speaking on several Sunday news shows, said Trump was within his First Amendment rights when he petitioned Pence to delay the certification on Jan. 6, 2021.

“The ultimate ask of Vice President Pence was to pause the counts and allow the states to weigh in,” Lauro said on CBS' “Face the Nation.” He said Trump was convinced there were irregularities in the election that needed to be investigated by state authorities before the election could be certified.

In an interview Sunday, Pence flatly rejected that account, saying Trump seemed “convinced” as early as December 2020 that Pence had the right to reject or return votes and that, on Jan. 5, Trump's attorneys told him, “We want you to reject votes outright.”

“They were asking me to overturn the election. I had no right to overturn the election,” Pence said on CNN's “State of the Union.”

Pence's role in certifying Joe Biden's win over Trump in the 2020 election makes him a central figure in the prosecution against Trump on charges he sought to overturn the will of the voters and remain in office, even after courts and election officials said there were was no credible evidence the election was tainted.

Last week's indictment chronicles how Trump and his allies lied about the results in the two months after he lost the election and pressured Pence and state election officials to take action. Those efforts culminated on Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an effort to stop the certification. Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Speaking on ABC's “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” Lauro said Pence's testimony will show Trump believed the election was rigged and he was listening to the advice of attorneys when he sought to delay certification. Pence, who appeared before the grand jury that indicted Trump, said he will comply with the law if asked to testify.

Lauro said he "cannot wait" to cross-examine Pence. 

“He will completely eliminate any doubt that President Trump firmly believed that the election irregularities had led to an inappropriate result," he said.

The 45-page indictment details how people close to Trump repeatedly told him he had lost and that there was no truth to his claims of fraud. In one encounter days before the Capitol incident, Trump told Pence he was “too honest,” after the vice president said he didn’t have the authority to reject electoral votes, the indictment says.

Lauro said Trump's defense team will seek to move the case from Washington because it wants a more diverse jury.

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