Mike Pence defies Trump and says he had ‘NO RIGHT’ to overturn the election

Former Vice President Mike Pence delivered his most direct and public rebuke of former President Donald Trump Friday – saying he had ‘no right’ to overturn the 2020 election as Trump demanded.

Pence made the statement in a defiant speech to the Federalist Society in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

He directly took on Trump’s claim – which the president voiced in an extraordinary statement Sunday – that Pence had the authority to ‘overturn’ the election. 

‘But there are those in our party who believe that as the presiding officer of the Joint Session of Congress, that I possessed unilateral authority to reject Electoral College votes,’ Pence said, speaking to his own constitutional role overseeing the vote count on Jan. 6th, 2020.

‘And I heard this week that President Trump said I had the right to overturn the election. President Trump is wrong,’ Pence said. ‘I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone.’ 

Pence was speaking in lay terms to make the same point he made on January 6th, 2020, when he put out a detailed letter to lawmakers explaining why he did not have the authority Trump claimed, and that any such ‘unilateral’ authority would be ‘antithetical’ to the balance of powers envisioned by the Founders.

It didn’t stop Trump from tweeting that day that he lacked ‘courage’ and should have acted anyway. 

What followed was a mob who rampaged through the Capitol, with some chanting to ‘hang’ Pence for failing to refuse to send back electoral votes from states where Trump was claiming fraud. 

Pence went further on Friday, calling the idea ‘unAmerican.’ 

‘And frankly, there is no idea more unAmerican than the notion that any one person could choose the American president. Under the Constitution, I have no right to change the outcome of our election.’

Then he added a crowd-pleasing rejoinder. ‘And Kamala Harris will have no right to overturn the election when we beat them in 2024,’ Pence said, to applause from the conservative legal group.

‘Look, I understand the disappointment many feel about the last election. I was on the ballot,’ he quipped. ‘Whatever the future holds, I know we did our duty that day.’

Trump caused an uproar at his Saturday rally in Texas, when he dangled pardons for Jan. 6th rioters. He promised to treat ‘those people from January 6 fairly’ if he runs and wins the White House.  ‘And if it requires pardons we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly,’ Trump said.

The former president doubled down with another extraordinary statement Sunday, where he said Pence could have ‘overturned’ the election – seemingly confirming critics probing the events of Jan. 6th who said he was trying to do just that.

Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, who serves on the House Jan. 6th Committee, on Friday in a Pacifica radio interview once again referred to what happened as an attempted coup d’etat organized by the president against Pence and the republic. 

Wrote Trump: ‘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 [Sen.] Wacky Susan Collins, are desperately trying to pass legislation that will not allow the Vice President to change the results of the election?’

He continued: ‘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. Unfortunately, he didn’t exercise that power, he could have overturned the Election!’

Pence’s statement, before a group that furnished names of many of the conservative judicial nominees Trump installed on the bench during his four years, was notable for a man who was a loyalist who refused repeated opportunities to rebuke Trump or his statements while in office.

He even took guff for his frequent expressions about Trump’s ‘broad shoulders,’ at a time when Trump organized cabinet meetings where top politicians would praise him. 

Both Pence and Trump are potential candidates for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

Pence’s statement came on a day the Republican National Committee voted through a resolution condemning GOP Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, who both serve on the House committee on Jan. 6th. 

In yet another illustration of Trump’s grip on the Republican Party, the resolution accused the pair of serving as ‘pawns to parrot Democrat talking points’ on the House select committee probing the events.

It also chided them for ‘pursuing what amounts to a third political impeachment of President Trump.’ 

Pence’s public break comes after it was revealed his former chief of staff, Marc Short, testified before the House select committee, whose probe has extended to Trump’s efforts pressure state election officials, internal Justice Department maneuverings, the role of Oath Keepers and militias, and those who planned the rallies Jan. 6th. 

Pence on Friday spoke of raising his right hand to take the oath to the Constitution when he took office.

“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,’ he said.

‘The American people must know, as the bible says, that we’ll keep our oath, even when it hurts.’

He called Jan. 6th, a ‘dark day in the history of the United States Capitol. Lives were lost. Many were injured.’

He noted that under the Constitution, election are conducted at the state level. 

‘The only role Congress has with respect to the Electoral College is to open and count the votes submitted and certified by the states. No more, no less.’

 He noted the Founders were ‘deeply suspicious’ of consolidated power, and bashed a Democratic voting rights bill he called an effort to ‘nationalize’ elections. 

Pence calling Trump’s demand ‘unAmerican’ is a substantial escalation from his earlier comments. The way he put it in New Hampshire in June when describing Jan. 6 was to say: ‘You know, President Trump and I have spoken many times since we left office. And I don’t know if we’ll ever see eye to eye on that day.’

Trump has not said he intends to run in 2024, but has been inching closer, issuing a flurry of endorsements and talking about things he would do if back in the White House.

Pence, too, is a possible GOP contender, but lags far behind Trump in opinion polling.

Recent weeks have seen political jockeying between Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, another potential 2024 contender.