This is the On the Media Podcast Extra. I'm Sasha Pfeiffer sitting in for Brooke Ladstone.

In the months following his election loss, as he made baseless accusations of election fraud,

President Trump floated a dangerous idea.

Had Mike Pence had the courage to send it back to the legislature,

you would have had a different outcome, in my opinion?

Is that what you told him to do?

It was a troubling talking point about a troubling claim, that then-Vice-President Mike Pence

had the power to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Trump's favor.

That same claim brought insurrectionists to the Capitol on January 6th.

And as of this week, it's been given new context. It's a two-page memo marked privileged and confidential.

January 6th scenario is the title.

That memo made public in Bob Woodward and Robert Costa's new book, Peril,

outlines a six-step plan for how Pence could refuse to tally votes from states with, quote, multiple slates of electors.

That would throw the final decision to the House of Representatives, which was then controlled by Republicans.

And that election overturn plan was written and proposed to Pence on January 5th by John Eastman, an attorney advising Trump.

Eastman isn't a household name, but he's come up on the media before. In 2020, he was

pushing another false theory, Bertherism. Berthers tried to call President Obama's right

to hold the highest office into question,

and Bertherism resurfaced around Kamala Harris's eligibility.

I heard it today that she doesn't meet the requirements.

That was, of course, false.

Kamala Harris is a U.S. citizen and fully eligible to serve as vice president.

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