On Friday, former Vice President Mike Pence directly countered Donald Trump’s false claims that he could have somehow overturned the 2020 election results, calling the former president simply “wrong.”
Speaking at a rally of the conservative Federalists Association in Florida, Pence spoke of Trump’s intensified efforts this week to advance the false narrative that, as vice president, he has the unilateral power to prevent President Joe Biden from taking office.
“President Trump was wrong,” Pence said. “I have no right to overturn the election.”
Pence’s statement marked his strongest response yet to Trump, who throughout his presidency has fueled the lie that the 2020 campaign was stolen from him. Just as Pence begins to lay the groundwork for a potential 2024 presidential bid that could put him in direct competition with his former boss, who is also teasing a comeback.
There was a new dynamic in the relationship between the two this week as Trump escalated his attacks on Pence.
In a statement on Tuesday, Trump said the committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol should investigate “why Mike Pence did not send back a recertified or approved ballot.” On Sunday, he blasted Pence, falsely claiming that “he could have overturned the election!”
The vice president has only a ceremonial role in the counting of the Electoral College votes, and any attempt to interfere with the counting of votes would be an extraordinary violation of the law and an attack on the democratic process.
In his speech to the lawyers in Lake Buena Vista on Friday, Pence described Jan. 6, 2021 as “a dark day in the history of the U.S. Capitol” and saw the day’s actions as consistent with his role as a constitutional conservative .
“The American people must know that we will always keep our oath to the Constitution, even if doing so is politically expedient,” he told the group on Friday. He noted that under Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution, “elections are conducted at the state level, not by Congress,” and that “the sole role of Congress with respect to the Electoral College is to publish and count the ballots submitted and certified. States. No more, no less.”
He went on to appeal to those who insist that this is not the case.
“Frankly, there is no less American idea than the idea that anyone can choose the president of the United States,” he added. “Under the Constitution, I have no power to change our election results. When we defeat them in 2024, Kamala Harris will have no power to overturn the election.”
Viewers applauded Pence’s remarks about defeating Democrats in the upcoming presidential election, but remained silent when Pence said earlier that “Trump was wrong.”
Complete News Source : Hindustan Times
