Vice President Mike Pence suggested that Democrats will not accept the outcome of the 2020 election because they have spent the past three and a half years attempting to negate the results of 2016.
Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s vice presidential pick, met on a stage in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Wednesday night for the only vice presidential debate of the 2020 campaign. Near the end of the debate, discussion turned to whether each side would accept the results of the election.
Pence took the opportunity to slam elected Democrats and the previous administration under former Democratic President Barack Obama for attempting to “overturn” the 2016 election results. The vice president said that the investigation into Trump’s campaign for alleged Russian collusion and Trump’s impeachment were both attempts to force Trump out of office for political reasons.
“When you talk about accepting the outcome of the election, I must tell you, senator, your party has spent the last three and a half years trying to overturn the results of the last election. It’s amazing,” Pence said. “When Joe Biden was Vice President of the United States, the FBI actually spied on President Trump and my campaign. I mean, there were documents released this week that the CIA actually made a referral to the FBI documenting that those allegations were coming from the Hillary Clinton campaign.”
On Tuesday, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe revealed in a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) that the CIA had briefed Obama on allegations that the Clinton campaign intended to “stir up a scandal” against Trump by accusing the then-GOP presidential candidate of working with Russian agents to influence the 2016 election.
“And, of course, we’ve all seen the avalanche, what you put the country through for the better part of three years until it was found that there was no obstruction, no collusion, case closed. And then, Senator Harris, you and your colleagues in the Congress tried to impeach the President of the United States over a phone call,” Pence said.
Pence also brought up comments made by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who lost the race against Trump in 2016, pushing Biden to “not concede under any circumstances.”
“And now Hillary Clinton has actually said to Joe Biden, in her words, under no circumstances should he concede the election,” Pence said.
“So let me just say, I think we’re gonna win this election. President Trump and I are fighting every day in courthouses to prevent Joe Biden and Kamala Harris from changing the rules and creating this universal mail-in voting that will create a massive opportunity for voter fraud,” Pence said. “[When] we have a free and fair election, we know we’re gonna have confidence in it, and I believe in all my heart that President Donald Trump’s gonna be reelected for four more years.”
VP PENCE: “Your Party has spent the last Three and a Half Years trying to overturn the results of the last election.” pic.twitter.com/vur8u0x9LA
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) October 8, 2020