Former Vice President Mike Pence on Friday directly rebutted Donald Trump’s false claims that Pence somehow could have overturned the results of the 2020 election, saying that the former president was simply “wrong.”
In a speech to the conservative Federalist Society in Florida, Pence addressed Trump’s intensifying efforts this week to advance the false narrative that he could have done something to prevent Joe Biden from taking office.
“President Trump is wrong,” Pence said. “I had no right to overturn the election.”
While Pence in the past has defended his actions on Jan. 6 and said that he and Trump will likely never see “eye to eye” on what happened that day, the remarks Friday marked his most forceful rebuttal of Trump to date. And they come as Pence has been laying the groundwork for a potential run for president in 2024, which could put him in direct competition with his former boss, who has also been teasing a comeback run.
In a statement Tuesday, Trump said the committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol should instead probe “why Mike Pence did not send back the votes for recertification or approval.” And on Sunday, he blasted Pence, falsely declaring that “he could have overturned the Election!”
Vice presidents play only a ceremonial role in the the counting of Electoral College votes, and any attempt to interfere in the count would have represented a profound break from precedent and democratic norms.
Pence, in his remarks Friday, described Jan. 6, 2021, as “a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol.”
Pence was inside the building, presiding over the joint session of Congress to certify the presidential election, when a mob of Trump’s supporters violently smashed inside, assaulting police officers and hunting down lawmakers. Pence, who had released a statement earlier that day to make clear he had no authority to overturn the will of the voters, was rushed to safety as some rioters chanted “Hang Mike Pence!”
Pence framed his actions that day as in line with his duty as a constitutional conservative.
“The American people must know that we will always keep our oath to the Constitution, even when it would be politically expedient to do otherwise,” he told the group Friday. He noted that, under Article II Section One of the Constitution, “elections are conducted at the state level, not by Congress” and that “the only role of Congress with respect to the Electoral College is to open and count votes submitted and certified by the states. No more, no less.”
“Frankly there is no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president,” he added. “Under the Constitution, I had no right to change the outcome of our election. And Kamala Harris will have no right to overturn the election when we beat them in 2024.”
Pence also acknowledged the lingering anger among many in Trump’s base. But, he said: “The truth is, there’s more at stake than our party or political fortunes. Men and women, if we lose faith in the Constitution, we won’t just lose elections — we’ll lose our country.”
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Mike Pence, you are nothing but an establishment RINO, so we do not need you or want you to run for President.
AND trump was a FOOL< for accepting YOU as his VP!
On Mike Pence, Mike Pence, Mike Pence, former Vice President under Republican President Trump
Has. Proven to be a great disappointment now As A Republican and A Disappointment As A Citizen. Now That he’s A Regular Citizen And No Longer A Vice President, Mike Pence Is Trying To Remain Relativent And Is Using The Press to Acknowledge the Fact That He’s Always Been A ( RINO. ) Mike Pence isn’t making Himsel Look Good By Betraying The Former Presidents Trust In Him .
You got that right Pence has become another rino & flexable back bone. We are very tired of back stabing politicians . My advice to these people(go find a real job).
I doubt many of those rejects, would ever be able to GET a real job…
“President Trump is wrong,” Pence said. “I had no right to overturn the election.”,,,,,which may even be proven correct Constitutionally given time, but he sure could have held things up for months demanding investigations to put Biden through the same Impeachment kind of hell the Democrats TWICE put President Trump. Maybe we could have reversed just one Senatorial result for a whole new Supreme Court Biden nomination.
Evil prevails only when good men do and say nothing. I used to think Pence a good man, but he forgets that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, that lead to bad results. The results of that Democrat manipulated election are just about as bad as they can get, and America has become a lot more totalitarian today than Democratic because Pence buckled under the pressure and took the path of least establishment resistance while the uninvestigated coverup goes on.
AND had he said “WE Will not certify a single electoral vote, TILL EVERY LAWSUIT about voter fraud, has been adjudicated in the courts, THAT MAY HAve at least not just HELD UP bidens win, BUT MAY HAVE overturned it, as the courts couldn’t have denied every bit of evidence out there, after what he COULD have done…
We don’t want BIden to operate outside of the law, but some of us are okay with demanding that Pence do this, in spite of our claim to be Constitutionalists. Again, Pence’s authority that day was ceremonial, and gave him no other powers than to certify the election. If you want to investigate certification, then take part in YOUR states investigation. Arizona, Wisconsin, and Georgia are having some success. Nevade has discovered more in the line of fraudulent voting. Focus your efforts there. THAT is in the Constitution.
HOW would it have been outside of the law/constitution for pense to have said “I WILL NOT Certify this election, til every lawsuit challenging all the fraud’ has been heard??
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GOPUSA, it’s in the WRONG PLACE! delete it. Get your act together~!
It won’t take time, Pence was correct. We supposed Constitutionalists believe in Federalism, in other words that States control their electors. As much as I will resist the lib/progressives as they try to make a mockery of the electoral process, I will resist you and others who cannot deign to learn about how the Constitution actually works. If you believe in Federalism and the 10th amendment, then Pence had only one option. And that didn’t include investigating the election.
If you believe as I do, that the 2020 election smelled to high heaven then you need to get active in your state, and work to overturn the stupidity of that day. AND you like others here need to learn how our levers of power work. Unfortunately, America has been bitten by the pandemic of systemic stupidity, and have seeming lost the ability to think for more than 10 uninterrupted seconds. Partly, it is the fault of those progressives who run our schools, but now that we have the internet, we can only blame ourselves. LEARN AND TEACH.
{I had to split these because it refused to put my posts where I chose. And it still is. I am replying to inluminatuo. }
I liked this guy when he was Trump’s VP, but I think he has joined the RINO Club.
Move Over, Mitt Romey, Make Room foe, ” Rino Republican, Liz Cheny,And the Newest ( RINO,) Mike Pence. Is It Loyality to serve wullingly Under A President who’s Policies You Disagree With.??
Pence is right, now it’s time to not keep “beating a dead horse to death” but to focus on the 2022 elections to make sure we don’t “screw” that up!
We don’t need a Pontificating Pence to tell us what needs to be done in 2022,,,,that beaten dead horse will be resurrected for a beaten dead donkey come November. The proof in his pudding will be if he agrees to show up before the Democrat Selected committee on Jan 6th or stand his ground as a true Republican and flip them the bird. Did he hold Liz Cheney’s hand January 6th as they skedaddled out of the Capitol? Will he show up and kiss her ring before the committee?
Pence was speaking to supporters at the Federalist Society, which sadly no one realizes is exactly where his argument should have been made, before the people who believe in State’s Rights. It is shameful that Trump refuses to teach himself about such points of clarity in the Constitution. I will likely vote for the guy for a 3rd time, but he is doomed to utter failure again if he continues to make war on his friends. Pence did the only thing he could do, and but for being a good man, he would not have kept as quiet as he has. I have sent Trump two birthday cards in which my greeting was “Happy Birthday, please SHUT UP!” It seems I may owe him a 3rd.
By the way, tell your friends, “learn about American Civics.”
Democratic norms??? You really should read a dictionary and the Constitution of the United States Mike.. After all there are no democratic anything in the Constitution.
I wouldn’t vote for pence for dog catcher. He is a turncoat who cannot and should not be trusted. I’d vote for bill clinton first!