Former President Mike Pence criticized former President Donald Trump during a speech at The Federalist Society on Friday for claiming that Pence could have overturned the results of the 2020 election.
“There are those in our party who believe that as the presiding officer of the joint session of Congress, that I possess unilateral authority to reject Electoral College votes,” Pence said. “And I heard this week that President Trump said I had the right to overturn the election.”
“President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election,” Pence continued. “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. 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.”
WATCH:
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
TRANSCRIPT:
MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: As constitutional conservatives, the American people must know that we will always keep our oath to the Constitution, even when it would be politically expedient to do otherwise. As the late, great Justice Antonin Scalia said, “I’m doing what I’m supposed to do, which is apply the Constitution. Even though I do not always like the results.” The American people must know, as the Bible says, that we’ll keep our oath, even when it hurts. January 6 was a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol; lives were lost, and many were injured. But thanks to the courageous action of the Capitol Police and federal law enforcement, violence was quelled, the Capitol was secured, and we reconvened the Congress that very same day to finish our work under the Constitution of the United States and the laws of this country.
Under Article II, Section I, elections are conducted at the state level, not by the Congress. The only role Congress has with respect to the Electoral College is to open and count votes submitted and certified by the states. No more, no less. Actually, our Founders were deeply suspicious of consolidated power in our nation’s capital, were rightly concerned with foreign interference in our presidential elections, if they were decided in our new capital. That’s why the Constitutional Convention settled on state-based elections. And that’s also why the United States Senate was right to reject the Democrats’ latest effort to nationalize our elections just two weeks ago.
But there are those in our party who believe that as the presiding officer of the joint session of Congress, that I possess unilateral authority to reject Electoral College votes. And I heard this week that President Trump said I had the right to overturn the election. 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. 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.