UPDATED 2/4, 4 p.m. ET: After Donald Trump insisted Mike Pence had the "right" to overturn the 2020 election results, the former vice president said his former boss is “wrong.”
During an appearance at the Federalist Society Florida Chapters conference on Friday, per CNN, Pence said he did not have the right to change the election results. “President Trump is wrong,” the 62-year-old told the crowd of conservatives. “Under the Constitution, I had no right to change the outcome of our election, and Kamala Harris will have no right to overturn the election when we beat them in 2024.”
Mike Pence also said it was “un-American” to suggest he should have the power to change an election’s outcome.
See original story below.
In a statement shared on Sunday, Donald Trump said he wanted former vice president Mike Pence to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Following the results of the 2020 election, Trump repeatedly shared unfounded claims of election fraud, and maintained that he in fact beat current president Joe Biden. Trump, who has faced extensive criticism for instigating the events at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, falsely claimed that Pence had the “right” to overturn the results and that he should have done it.
"If the Vice President (Mike Pence) had ‘absolutely no right’ to change the Presidential Election results in the Senate, despite fraud and many other irregularities, how come the Democrats and RINO Republicans, like Wacky Susan Collins, are desperately trying to pass legislation that will not allow the Vice President to change the results of the election? 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,” Trump wrote, criticizing recent efforts to reform the Electoral Count Act. “Unfortunately, he didn't exercise that power, he could have overturned the Election!”
The act, as CNN noted, is vague, but does not indicate vice presidents have the power to overturn the results of such an election.
Per The Washington Post, White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked about Trump’s latest comments on Monday. She told reporters he served the public another “reminder of how unfit he is for office.” Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who is a member of the committee in charge of investigating the events of Jan. 6, called Trump’s comments “an admission” and “massively un-American.”
Earlier this month, Trump hung up on an interviewer after he was pressed on his unfounded claims of election fraud.
