据美国广播公司首席华盛顿记者乔纳森·卡尔报道，当时的白宫办公厅主任马克·梅多斯在新年前夕通过电子邮件向副总统迈克·彭斯的高级助手发送了一份备忘录，详细说明了推翻乔·拜登总统选举胜利的计划。

这份备忘录由前总统唐纳德·特朗普的竞选律师詹娜·埃利斯撰写，卡尔即将出版的书《背叛:特朗普秀的最后一幕》首次报道了这份备忘录，表明彭斯在推翻2020年大选结果方面面临着比以前更大的压力。

埃利斯在备忘录中概述了一项多步骤战略:1月6日，国会将认证2020年选举结果彭斯将从特朗普谎称自己获胜的六个战场州发回选举人票。

根据卡尔的说法，备忘录称，彭斯将给各州一个“东部标准时间1月15日下午7点”的截止日期，以发回一组新的选票。

艾琳·沙夫/通过盖蒂图像池，文件

2021年1月6日，美国副总统迈克·彭斯主持国会联席会议.

然后，埃利斯写道，如果任何一个州的立法机关错过了最后期限，“该州的选举人票就不能公开和计算。”

埃利斯写道，这种情况既不会让拜登也不会让特朗普获得多数票，这意味着“国会将通过州代表团投票”——埃利斯说，这反过来会导致特朗普被宣布为获胜者，因为共和党以26票控制了大多数州代表团。

在梅多斯将埃利斯的备忘录发给彭斯助手的第二天，1月1日，特朗普助手约翰·麦克恩特(John McEntee)又给彭斯的幕僚长马克·肖特(Marc Short)发了一份备忘录，标题为“杰斐逊利用自己的副总裁职位赢得了胜利。”

卡尔说，尽管麦克恩特的备忘录在历史上是不正确的，但他传达的信息是明确的:杰斐逊利用了他的地位，彭斯也必须这样做。

在1月的第一周，特朗普个人和公开努力推他的副总统夺走拜登的胜利。

“我希望迈克·彭斯能帮助我们，”特朗普说1月4日，在佐治亚州一场喧闹的集会上，就在共和党也将失去参议院多数席位的前一天。“我必须告诉你，我希望我们伟大的副总统为我们度过难关。他是个好人。当然，如果他不通过，我也不会那么喜欢他。”

在3月18日与特朗普就即将出版的书进行的坐下来采访中，卡尔向这位前总统询问了一份来自纽约时报1月6日早上，特朗普用一个粗鲁的电话向彭斯施压，据报道，他告诉副总统，“你可以是爱国者，也可以是警察。”

“我不会对此提出异议，”特朗普对卡尔说。

“真的吗?”卡尔回答道。

“我不会对此提出异议，”特朗普重复道。

1月6日上午晚些时候，当特朗普在大选前的椭圆集会上登台时国会大厦袭击，他公开呼吁彭斯采取行动。

特朗普说:“如果迈克·彭斯做对了，我们就赢得了选举。”告诉咆哮的人群。“迈克·彭斯将不得不为我们度过难关，如果他不这样做，那将是我们国家悲伤的一天。”

几个小时后，在暴徒袭击国会大厦并疏散大楼后，当他们离开大楼时，有人听到暴徒大喊“绞死迈克·彭斯”。但特朗普告诉卡尔，他从未联系过副总统检查他的安全。

“不，我认为他受到了很好的保护，我听说他的状态很好，”特朗普告诉卡尔。“没有，因为我听说他状态很好。”

当被问及这些口号时，特朗普告诉卡尔，彭斯在认证投票时犯了一个错误。

“他本可以——嗯，人民非常愤怒，”特朗普说。“如果你知道投票是欺诈性的，对吗，你怎么能把欺诈性的投票传递给国会?你怎么能这么做?”特朗普说。

当被卡尔问及，如果彭斯按照特朗普的意愿行事，特朗普是否还会留在白宫时，特朗普回答说，“我想我们会赢的——是的。”

特朗普也不能说他是否会原谅彭斯认证选举——这是一个罕见的对忠诚的副总统持不同意见的行为。

“我不知道，”特朗普说。“因为我选中了他。我喜欢他，我仍然喜欢他，但我不知道我能不能原谅他。”

当被卡尔问及如果特朗普在2024年再次竞选副总统，彭斯是否在他的候选名单上时，特朗普拒绝透露。

“他做错了，”特朗普谈到彭斯时说。“一个非常好的人。我很喜欢他。我非常喜欢他的家庭。但是...这是一个悲剧性的错误。”

Memo from Trump attorney outlined how Pence could overturn election, says new book

In a memo not made public until now, then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows emailed to Vice President Mike Pence's top aide, on New Year's Eve, a detailed plan for undoing President Joe Biden's election victory, ABC News' Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl reports.

The memo, written by former President Donald Trump's campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis, is reported for the first time in Karl's upcoming book, "Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show" -- demonstrating how Pence was under even more pressure than previously known to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Ellis, in the memo, outlined a multi-step strategy: On Jan. 6, the day Congress was tocertify the 2020 election results, Pence was to send back the electoral votes from six battleground states that Trump falsely claimed he had won.

The memo said that Pence would give the states a deadline of "7pm eastern standard time on January 15th" to send back a new set of votes, according to Karl.

Then, Ellis wrote, if any state legislature missed that deadline, "no electoral votes can be opened and counted from that state."

Such a scenario would leave neither Biden nor Trump with a majority of votes, Ellis wrote, which would mean "Congress shall vote by state delegation" -- which, Ellis said, would in turn lead to Trump being declared the winner due to Republicans controlling the majority of state delegations with 26.

The day after Meadows sent Ellis' memo to Pence's aide, on Jan. 1, Trump aide John McEntee sent another memo to Pence's chief of staff, Marc Short, titled, "Jefferson used his position as VP to win."

Although McEntee's memo was historically incorrect, Karl says, his message was clear: Jefferson took advantage of his position, and Pence must do the same.

What followed during that first week of January was an effort by Trump, both personally and publicly, topush his vice presidentto take away Biden's victory.

"I hope Mike Pence comes through for us,"Trump saidat a roaring Georgia rally on Jan. 4, a day before Republicans would also lose their Senate majority. "I have to tell you I hope that our great vice president comes through for us. He's a great guy. Of course, if he doesn't come through, I won't like him quite as much."

At a March 18 sit-down interview with Trump for the upcoming book, Karl asked the former president about a report fromThe New York Timesthat on the morning of Jan. 6, Trump pressured Pence with a crude phone call, reportedly telling his vice president, "You can be a patriot or you can be a p****."

"I wouldn't dispute it," Trump said to Karl.

"Really?" Karl responded.

"I wouldn't dispute it," Trump repeated.

Later on the morning of Jan. 6, as Trump took the stage for his rally at the Ellipse prior to theCapitol attack, he publicly called on Pence to take action.

"If Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election," Trumptold the roaring crowd. "Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us, and if he doesn't, that will be a sad day for our country."

Hours later, after rioters had attacked the Capitol and the building was being evacuated, rioters were heard shouting "Hang Mike Pence" as they left the complex. But Trump told Karl that he never contacted his vice president to check on his safety.

"No, I thought he was well-protected, and I had heard that he was in good shape," Trump told Karl. "No, because I had heard he was in very good shape."

Pressed about the chants, Trump told Karl that Pence made a mistake in certifying the vote.

"He could have -- well, the people were very angry," Trump said. "If you know a vote is fraudulent, right, how can you pass on a fraudulent vote to Congress? How can you do that?" Trump said.

Asked by Karl if, had Pence done as Trump wanted, Trump would still be in the White House, Trump replied, "I think we would have won -- yeah."

Trump also couldn't say if he would ever forgive Pence for certifying the election -- a rare act of dissent from an otherwise loyal vice president.

"I don't know," Trump said. "Because I picked him. I like him, I still like him, but I don't know that I can forgive him."

And asked by Karl if Pence was on his shortlist for vice president should Trump run again in 2024, Trump wouldn't say.

"He did the wrong thing," Trump said of Pence. "A very nice man. I like him a lot. I like his family so much. But ... it was a tragic mistake."