The former vice president’s remarks at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, focused primarily on laying out a pro-Trump platform for a potential White House run of his own.
But Pence also offered a harsh assessment of the former President’s claims, in the days and weeks leading up to January 6, about changing the results of the election during the official counting of electoral votes in Congress.
“The Constitution affords the vice president no authority to reject or return electoral votes submitted to the Congress by the states,” said Pence, contradicting Trump’s claim at his January 6 rally that his vice president could “do the right thing” and reject the vote count.
Without mentioning Trump by name, Pence said there are “those in our party” who believe that “any one person” could select the president.
“Truth is, there is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president,” he said.
By contrast, Pence acknowledged the “disappointment” of defeat in 2020.
“Now, I understand the disappointment many feel about the last election,” he said. “I can relate. I was on the ballot. But you know, there’s more at stake than our party and our political fortunes in this moment. If we lose faith in the Constitution, we won’t just lose elections — we’ll lose our country.”
It was the only clear break Pence made from the President he served loyally for four years — and whose mantle he’d like to take up for himself in the 2024 presidential race. That goal is complicated by the open possibility Trump could run again himself, and the blame that Trump’s most loyal supporters ascribe to Pence for failing to overturn the election.
While Pence had largely avoided speaking about January 6 in April, his remarks on Thursday night attempted to address, however delicately, the false claims made by Trump. But on all else, Pence appears to be…
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