Pence warned against conservatives who continue to push for the vice president to change an election, saying it could be a problematic position for Republicans in the next presidential contest.
“Under the constitution, I had no right to change the outcome of our election, and (Vice President) Kamala Harris will not have the right to undo the election if we beat them in 2024,” Pence said.
Pence’s comments follow Trump’s latest attempt to blame his former vice president for the failed attempt to undo the 2020 election.
In a statement on Sunday, Trump suggested that a recent bipartisan effort to overhaul the electoral college vote count by Congress was evidence that Pence had the power to change the results.
“What they’re saying is Mike Pence had a right to change the outcome, and they want to take that right now,” Trump said in the statement. “Unfortunately, he did not exercise that power, he could have canceled the Elections!”
But Pence insisted on Friday that was not the case, saying that “the time has come to focus on the future.”
“Look, I understand the disappointment many feel about the last election. I was on the ballot,” Pence said. “But whatever the future holds, I know we did our duty that day.”
Pence has repeatedly defended his role in certifying the election results on January 6, 2021. In a June address to New Hampshire Republicans, he acknowledged that he and Trump remain divided over the events surrounding the US Capitol riot.
He added that he “will always be proud” that he fulfilled his constitutional duty after a deadly mob of Trump supporters attacked the US Capitol.
Some of those supporters had called for Pence’s hanging during their siege of Congress, which just hours after Trump told the crowd his vice president had to “do the right thing” and reject the vote count.
Pence addressed that comment directly in December during an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network.
“I know I did the right thing,” he said.
As he positions himself for a political comeback, Pence has sought to embrace his track record in the Trump administration, while stepping away from his former boss’s relentless quest to undermine the latest election. It’s a tightrope walk that other former Trump administration officials with 2024 ambitions may also have to try, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley.
But unlike those others, Pence is uniquely reviled by many Trump supporters for his refusal to follow the former president into a constitutional crisis. Pence received a cold reception last year while visiting the Orlando area to speak at the Faith & Freedom Coalition conference, with some in the crowd booing his introduction. A man was escorted outside for yelling, “Traitor!”
Pence was received more friendly Friday by the members of the Federalist Society who had gathered at the Disney World complex, even though dozens of seats were unoccupied. Silence fell across the conference room as Pence described the events of January 6 and received polite applause as he defended his actions.
“This week President Trump said I had the right to ‘undo the election.’ But President Trump is wrong,” said Pence. “I had no right to undo the election.”
The former vice president described the January 6 Uprising in the Capitol in very different terms than Trump and other Republicans have used in recent days.
At a rally in Texas last week, Trump said if he is elected president again in 2024, he will consider pardoning those who have been prosecuted for their roles in the insurgency.
And on Friday, hours before Pence was scheduled to speak in Florida, the Republican National Committee passed a resolution formally censoring GOP Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois for serving on a special congressional committee covering the events of January 6. investigated. resolution referred to what happened that day as “legitimate political discourse”.
However, Pence acknowledged that as Congress prepared to count the votes of the States’ Electoral College, the uprising marked “a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol.”
“Lives were lost and many were injured, but the courageous action of the Capitol Police and federal law enforcement quelled the violence, secured the Capitol, and that same day we reconvened Congress to continue our work under the United States Constitution.” and the laws of this country,” said Pence.
Pence’s split from Trump came at the end of a speech in which he largely focused on criticizing the administration of President Joe Biden.
The former vice president took credit for the coronavirus vaccines developed while Trump was in office, claiming the effort to develop and distribute vaccines was “a medical miracle.” He said he had been vaccinated himself.
But he said Biden was wrong in trying to mandate vaccinations, leaving health workers who “went to the beach for a year without body armor” now “choosing between vaccines and their jobs.”
Pence also criticized Biden for his plan — following a 2020 campaign pledge — to nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court to occupy the seat of outgoing Liberal Judge Stephen Breyer. He said Biden selects a court candidate “primarily on the basis of the candidate’s race and gender”.
“If the radical left doesn’t end its obsession with identity politics, it will tear this country apart,” Pence said.