Mike Pence is pushing ahead with plans to run for president in 2024 and says he and Trump “delivered for Americans” after the June 6 hearing.
- Pence spoke to the Wall Street Journal as the Jan. 6 House Committee focused on his role in opposing Trump’s pressure campaign
- He refused to certify state-certified results while overseeing the count
- The hearing found that even Trump’s own lawyers questioned the theory of VP authority
- It also showed footage of him in a safe place after walking 40 feet from rioters
- Some rioters chanted ‘hang Mike Pence’
- “We have done our duty that day under the constitution and laws of this country”
- But he didn’t condemn Trump, saying they were working “shoulder to shoulder.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence defended his role in rejecting Donald Trump’s request to resend votes in an interview the same day the Jan. 6 House Committee played video of an aide saying Trump gave him a “p.” ****” called.
Pence, who did not appear before the committee, was speaking as his former attorney, Mark Jacob, and former chief of staff, Marc Short, testified that they and Pence had a legal theory from the outset that the vice president had unilateral authority to refuse certified votes.
Trump and a circle of advisers stuck to that theory into the final days of his presidency, saying both publicly and online on Jan. 6 that Pence lacked “courage.”
“Ultimately, I think most Americans understand that on that day we did our duty under the Constitution and the laws of this country,” Pence told The Wall Street Journal.
“We did our duty,” former Vice President Mike Pence said of his decision not to accept state-certified electoral votes on Jan. 6 as Congress met to count the votes that made Joe Biden president
It’s a phrase he’s also used in public speeches — but it came on a day when the House’s January 6th Committee was turning attention to his pivotal role. The committee said rioters, some of whom chanted to “hang Mike Pence,” were within 40 feet of him at one point after the Secret Service pushed him from his ceremonial Senate office.
Lawmakers including Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) hailed his courage in standing up to Trump and upholding his ceremonial role on the day.
But Pence, who has sided with Trump for nearly his entire four-year tenure, has not denounced Trump or his agenda — at a time when Trump has significant influence over a Republican base and has even ousted President Joe Biden in a new poll .
Ivanka Trump’s former chief of staff Julia Radford said former President Donald Trump called Pence the “P-word” on Jan. 6, 2020
“The President and I had very different styles, we are different men,” he told the newspaper.
“But we worked side by side … and we delivered for the American people,” he said.
The interview doesn’t quote Pence speaking out about the 2024 nomination fight — though a headline says he’s “planning” a 2024 bid.
He has a business speech scheduled in Chicago Monday, is “expected” to form a new super PAC, has a book deal and “expects” to continue to travel to the states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. That reviews some of the activities that presidential candidates typically participate in amid chatter that Trump could make his own announcement after the midterms.
Pence still didn’t denounce Trump, saying they were working “shoulder to shoulder.”
Greg Jacob, former adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, testified about the origins of a legal theory championed by Trump that would have allowed Pence to throw out millions of votes
Committee Chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) listens as Committee Vice Chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) speaks during the third of eight scheduled U.S. House of Representatives public hearings at to investigate the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol. Pence did not appear before the committee in person, but Top Aid did
He has also begun to refine his attacks on President Biden, who gave an interview of his own Thursday to defend his efforts to fight inflation.
“Everywhere in the country I go, I can tell you, the American people are suffering,” Pence said. ‘Inflation [is] at a 40-year high, $5 a gallon gas and up, the crisis on our border I saw first hand Monday. A crime wave sweeping our cities. It’s one of the reasons I’m so determined to support candidates for the House, Senate and Governor.’
The New York Times previously reported that the pressure continued until the morning of Jan. 6, when Trump told Pence, “You can be a patriot or you can be an ap****.”
When asked by ABC’s Jonathan Karl about his departure from office, Trump replied, “I wouldn’t dispute it.”
The committee played video testimony from Julia Radford, Ivanka Trump’s former chief of staff, who testified that Trump used the “P-word” in a conversation with Pence that day. Former Trump White House aide Nicholas Luna said he overheard Trump calling Pence a “wuss.”