As former Vice President Mike Pence campaigns against former President Donald Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential primary race, he has become an increasingly outspoken critic of his former boss.
Much of the criticism hinges on the events of Jan. 6, 2021, on which day he claims Trump wanted him to engage in an unconstitutional act related to the certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.
While Trump’s attorney insisted that the then-president only wanted to “pause the voting,” Pence said last week that there was more to the story than that.
“The American people deserve to know that President Trump and his advisers didn’t just ask me to pause,” he asserted. “They asked me to reject votes, return votes, essentially to overturn the election.”
If he had gone along with that plan, Pence said that it “would have resulted in the issue being turned over to the House of Representatives, and literally chaos would have ensued.”
Although Pence has been reticent to engage in what he described as the “partisan” Jan. 6 congressional committee, he recently confirmed that he would be open to testifying against Trump in connection with the latest indictment.
The former president faces a lengthy prison sentence if convicted of criminal charges related to his actions leading up to the protest on Capitol Hill. Of course, Trump’s many allies in the GOP assert that this case, along with the two preceding indictments against him, are all part of a political ploy to hinder his chances of winning a second term in the White House.
During a recent CBS News interview, Pence was asked if he would agree to “be a witness against the president” if the case ultimately goes to trial.
“I have no plans to testify, but people can be confident we’ll obey the law,” he replied. “We’ll respond to the call of the law if it comes, and we’ll just tell the truth.”
BREAKING- Mike Pence says he may testify in Trump J6 case.
No Mike you weren’t asked to go against the constitution. You were asked to delay certification & give a chance for states to audit. No one likes you Mike…NOBODY pic.twitter.com/GbHyidBW1z
— The 1777 Report (@the1776report) August 6, 2023
For his part, Trump responded to Pence’s recent critique by calling his former acolyte “delusional” and asserting that “he wants to show he’s a tough guy.”
Pence initially responded to Trump’s most recent indictment by calling it an “important reminder” that “anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the United States.”
