The war between former President Trump and one-time Vice President Pence has erupted in full force before the nation. Both made opposing statements about the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
President Trump is Incorrect
Speaking in Lake Buena Vista, Florida before the Federalist Society, Pence defied Trump’s assertions that he could have and should have overturned the 2020 presidential election.
Pence reiterated that as vice president, he had “no right” to overturn the election, regardless of Trump’s insistence that it was rigged. However, this time, Pence came down particularly hard on his ex-boss in the White House over this vice-presidential power dispute.
The former vice president acknowledged “there are those” in the Republican Party who think he had the “unilateral authority” to “reject” the votes of the Electoral College.
He then mentioned Trump’s statement on Sunday in which he claimed categorically that Pence did have that authority.
Pence, however, declaredly bluntly “President Trump is wrong,” as cited by The Daily Mail. The ex-VP then added the US presidential elections belong “to the American people alone” and nobody else, regardless of Trump’s claims.
In his Friday speech, Pence went even further by calling the very idea of the vice president overturning elections “un-American.”
Pence then added that Kamala Harris, Joe Biden’s vice president, also will not have the right to overturn the results from the 2024 election “when we beat them.”
Pence concluded “we did our duty” on January 6, 2021, in spite of the disappointment that he also felt, since he was on Trump’s ticket.
In an explicit rebuke, former Vice President Pence says, "President Trump is wrong…Under the Constitution, I had no right to change the outcome of our election."
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) February 4, 2022
The Power to Guarantee an ‘Honest Vote’
In a swift statement issued on Friday night, Trump reacted angrily to Pence’s comments. Trump declared himself to be “right” about the claim the vice president can overturn US elections.
In his statement, POTUS 45 lambasted both Pence and GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell, who Trump again referred to as “the Old Crow”.
According to Trump, Pence’s comments mean his role boiled down to “an automatic conveyor belt,” allowing McConnell to bring Biden into the White House as quickly as possible.
According to POTUS 45, that meant the loss of a wonderful possibility, though “not forever,” even though the United States “is going to hell”.
Trump also returned to his point from Sunday’s statement. He emphasized Democrats seeking to amend the Electoral Count Act means precisely that at present, the vice president does have the power to completely overturn elections.
Trump concluded his rebuttal by making clear his understanding that the power in question means the right to guarantee “an honest vote”.
The seeming war of words between Trump and Pence appears to bode with great certainty that there is no possibility of them joining forces to run for the White House again in 2024.
The context for Pence's rebuke of Trump:
-Top aides (Short, Jacob) have testified to the Jan. 6 committee
-Trump has floated pardons for Jan. 6 rioters and claimed Pence had unilateral power to overturn the election.
-Jan. 6 committee about to receive tranche of Pence records.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) February 4, 2022
MIKE PENCE: “President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency belongs to the American people, and the American people alone. And frankly, there is no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president." pic.twitter.com/7feWD75Fq1
— JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) February 4, 2022
