Former Vice-President Mike Pence maintained that the efforts by some parties to declare former President Donald Trump guilty of charges brought against him before any trial could determine any possible guilt were unfair.
“I trust myself to the judgment of the American people and to the judgment of history,” Pence told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of The Union,” adding, “I really do believe people see through the agenda of the Democrats.”
Asked if he would be willing to testify at Trump’s trial if special counsel called him to do so, Pence answered, “I have no plans to testify. But, look, we will always — we will always comply with the law. But, look, I want to tell you, I don’t know what the path of this indictment will be. The president’s entitled to a presumption of innocence. He’s entitled to make his defense in court.”
“There actually are profound issues around this pertaining to the First Amendment, freedom of speech and the rest. I’m confident he and his lawyers will litigate all of those things,” Pence continued.
“We lived through the Russia hoax, the president being impeached for a phone call. The day after January 6, Nancy Pelosi tried to distort the 25th Amendment to get us to remove the president. And then to go through a process of impeaching the president of the United States after he left office was just one more effort by the Democrats,” Pence noted.
Bash quoted a Trump tweet in which he wrote, “I feel badly for Mike Pence, who is attracting no crowds, enthusiasm or loyalty from people who, as a member of the Trump administration, should be loving him. …. The V.P. had power that Mike didn’t understand.”
“President Trump was wrong then and he’s wrong now,” Pence responded. “I had no right to overturn the election. Very clear that, under the Constitution of the United States, Article 2, my responsibility as vice president, as president of the Senate was to preside over a joint session of Congress, where the Constitution says the electoral votes shall be opened and shall be counted.”
“I truly do believe that we kept our oath to the Constitution that day,” Pence stated. “But the American people deserve to know that President Trump asked me to put him over my oath to the Constitution. But I kept my oath, and I always will.”
“Our Constitution is more important than any one man,” he said. “Our country is more important than any one man’s career. And I’m running for office because, when people look at my record, I hope they understand that we have kept faith, not just with the Constitution, but with the broad conservative agenda that’s always carried our party to victory and, frankly, always carried America to unbounded security and prosperity.”
“The presidency belongs to the American people, and the American people alone,” Pence declared. “But, look, in the days before, the president was talking about us rejecting votes. Then, late in the process, his lawyers suggested that we return votes to the states. But, frankly, the day before January 6, if memory serves, they came back, his lawyers did, and said, we want you to reject votes outright. They were asking me to overturn the election. I had no right to overturn the election. I know we did our duty that day.”
“It’s awful early here,” Pence noted. “I mean, we’re still about six months away from Iowa, and then right after that New Hampshire. … I really do believe that there’s a lot of Republicans that know we not only need new leadership in the White House, but we need new leadership in the Republican Party. … I’m confident I will be able to support the Republican nominee, especially if it’s me. … I’m confident, as they have done so many times before, Republican primary voters are going to choose new leadership for a new time in the life of our nation.”
“We simply have got to move our country forward. We have got to put Joe Biden into retirement. We have got to win back the Senate, keep the House, and get this country turned around,” he concluded.