‘System nearly failed’: US democracy was left hanging by the thread of Pence’s defiance

If the vice-president had acquiesced to Trump's demand, the country could have plunged into an unprecedented crisis

The January 6 select committee showed on Thursday that Mike Pence withstood an intense pressure campaign from Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Trump's advisers repeatedly tried to convince Pence to disrupt the congressional certification of Joe Biden's victory on January 6, even after they themselves acknowledged that there was no constitutional basis for the vice-president to do so.