Former Vice President Mike Pence said former President Donald Trump was wrong to say Pence could have overturned the 2020 election and refused to certify that President Joe Biden won.
“This week, our former president said I had the right to ‘overturn the election,’” Pence said in a direct rebuke to his former boss, referring to a statement Trump issued on Sunday. “President Trump is wrong.”
Pence, who is considered a possible 2024 presidential contender even as Trump teases a run of his own, was speaking in Orlando at the annual meeting of the Federalist Society’s Florida chapters.
Pence oversaw a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 to count Electoral College votes, and Trump had demanded that Pence reject votes for Biden from key battleground states where Trump baselessly claimed fraud cost him a victory. But Pence said he lacked the legal and constitutional authority to do so.
Trump’s demands came before his supporters stormed the Capitol and sparked a deadly riot, causing lawmakers and Pence to flee for safety.
Trump has stepped up his attacks on his former vice president in recent days, saying in statements that Pence “could have overturned the election” and that the House committing investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection should probe why Pence didn’t reject Electoral College votes for Biden.
