(Fwrd Axis) — Former Vice President Mike Pence rejected a claim by former President Donald Trump that he could have “overturned” the results of the 2020 election and broke from his former boss on his non-fact-based claims of fraud in the election.
Federalist Society Florida Chapters conference near Orlando, Pence did not hold back from mentioning Trump by name. Previously, he had resisted calling out his former boss by name.
“I heard this week that President Trump said I had the right to overturn the election. President Trump is wrong,” Pence said. “The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone.”
Trump had publicly and privately urged Pence to stop Joe Biden’s victory from being certified and either reject states’ votes or send them back to the states. Pence refused, correctly saying he did not have the legal authority to do so.
“There are those in our party who believe that as the presiding officer over the joint session of Congress that I possess the unilateral authority to reject Electoral College votes,” he said.
“I had no right to change the outcome of our election. Kamala Harris will have no right to overturn the election when we beat them in 2024,” Pence said.
Trump has repeatedly criticized Pence, as recently as last week, for not trying to block the certification of the presidential vote.
“Actually, what they are saying, is that Mike Pence did have the right to change the outcome, and they now want to take that right away. Unfortunately, he didn’t exercise that power, he could have overturned the Election!” Trump said in a statement on Sunday.
Trump doubled down on Friday in another statement, saying the vice president can intervene in the electoral vote count “if obvious signs of voter fraud or irregularities exist.”
Pence on Friday chose to look ahead to the future, saying the loss hurt not only because he was on the ballot but the state the country is in.
“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.”
At a rally in Texas last week, Trump said that if he is elected president in 2024, he will consider pardoning those who have been prosecuted for their roles in the insurrection on the U.S. Capitol.
