Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Former Vice President Mike Pence has offered his most forceful rejection yet of former President Donald Trump\u2019s effort to overturn the 2020 election on Jan. 6, but declined to directly criticize Trump by name or blame him for inciting the deadly Capitol attack.<\/p>\n
Instead, Pence \u2014 speaking Thursday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. \u2014 insisted he was not constitutionally empowered to reverse the election results when he presided over the counting of electoral votes in Congress in January. Trump had urged him to do so in the hours before the former president\u2019s supporters stormed the Capitol.<\/p>\n
In his remarks, Pence described Jan. 6 as \u201ca dark day in the history of the United States of America\u201d and credited \u201cthe swift action of the Capitol Police and law enforcement\u201d for quelling the violence, allowing him and lawmakers to resume the formal certification of the election results later that day.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, there are those in our party who believe that in my position as presiding officer over the joint session, that I possessed the authority to reject or return electoral votes certified by states,\u201d Pence said. \u201cBut the Constitution provides the vice president with no such authority before the joint session of Congress. And the truth is, there\u2019s almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pence went on to say he \u201cwill always be proud that we did our part on that tragic day to reconvene the Congress and fulfill our duty under the Constitution and the laws of the United States,\u201d while also sympathizing with \u201cthe disappointment many feel\u201d about the election\u2019s outcome.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can relate. I was on the ballot,\u201d he said. \u201cBut, you know, there\u2019s more at stake than our party and our political fortunes in this moment. If we lose faith in the Constitution, we won\u2019t just lose elections. We\u2019ll lose our country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pence, who has slowly returned to political speaking engagements in recent weeks, previously broached the subject of Jan. 6 at a speech in New Hampshire earlier this month, where he similarly declined to attack Trump and asserted he was proud of the former administration\u2019s accomplishments.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Trump and I have spoken many times since we left office. And I don\u2019t know if we\u2019ll ever see eye to eye on that day,\u201d Pence said in New Hampshire. Shortly before the insurrection on Jan. 6, Trump told supporters at a fiery rally outside the White House that he hoped Pence would \u201cdo the right thing\u201d when presiding over the joint session of Congress.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just spoke to Mike. I said: \u2018Mike, that doesn\u2019t take courage. What takes courage is to do nothing. That takes courage,\u2019\u201d Trump said at the Jan. 6 rally. \u201cAnd then we\u2019re stuck with a president who lost the election by a lot, and we have to live with that for four more years. We\u2019re just not going to let that happen.\u201d <\/p>\n
As the assault on the Capitol was actively unfolding, Trump tweeted: \u201cMike Pence didn\u2019t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.\u201d <\/p>\n
Security video of the Capitol riot released in February showed the then-vice president being whisked out of the Senate chamber, revealing just how close he came to the mob of Trump supporters \u2014 some of whom chanted \u201cHang Mike Pence!\u201d<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Pence, widely viewed as a potential 2024 Republican candidate for president, was careful to show no animosity toward Trump, even eliciting applause as he compared the former president favorably to Ronald Reagan. <\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Donald Trump is also one of a kind. He, too, disrupted the status quo. He challenged the establishment. He invigorated our movement. And he set a bold new course for America in the 21st century,\u201d Pence said at the Reagan Library. \u201cAnd now, as then, there is no going back.\u201d<\/p>\n