Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
Former Vice President Mike Pence says that he isn’t sure that he and former President Donald Trump will ever see “eye to eye” over what happened on Jan. 6 but that he would “always be proud of what we accomplished for the American people over the last four years.”
Pence, speaking at a Republican dinner Thursday in the early-voting state of New Hampshire, gave his most extensive comments to date on the events of Jan. 6, when angry Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, some chanting “Hang Mike Pence!” after the vice president said he did not have the power to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory.
“As I said that day, Jan. 6 was a dark day in history of the United States Capitol. But thanks to the swift action of the Capitol Police and federal law enforcement, violence was quelled. The Capitol was secured,” Pence said.
“And that same day, we reconvened the Congress and did our duty under the Constitution and the laws of the United States,” Pence continued. “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.”
It was a rare departure for Pence, who spent four years standing loyally beside his boss amid controversy, investigation and impeachment. It comes as Pence considers his own potential 2024 White House run and as Republicans, some of whom were angry at Trump in the days after the Jan. 6 insurrection, have largely coalesced back around the former president.
Pence praised Trump several times during his nearly 35-minute speech at the Hillsborough County Republican Committee’s annual Lincoln-Reagan Awards Dinner in Manchester. He tried to turn the events of Jan. 6 back around on Democrats, saying they wanted to keep the insurrection in the news to divert attention from Biden’s liberal agenda.
“I will not allow Democrats or their allies in the media to use one tragic day to discredit the aspirations of millions of Americans. Or allow Democrats or their allies in the media to distract our attention from a new administration intent on dividing our country to advance their radical agenda,” Pence said. “My fellow Republicans, for our country, for our future, for our children and our grandchildren, we must move forward, united.”
He accused Biden of campaigning as a moderate but becoming the most liberal president since Franklin D. Roosevelt. He said the administration forced through Congress “a COVID bill to fund massive expansion of the welfare state” and was pushing a “so-called infrastructure bill” that was really a “thinly disguised climate change bill” funded with cuts in the military and historic tax increases.
“I just say enough is enough,” he said, adding that “we’re going to stand strong for freedom.”
Pence also hit upon several favorite themes of conservative Republicans, emphasizing the need for states to shore up voter integrity around the country. He praised law enforcement as heroes, saying: “Black lives are not endangered by police. Black lives are saved by police every day.”
He also pushed back against “critical race theory,” which seeks to reframe the narrative of American history.
Its proponents argue that federal law has preserved the unequal treatment of people on the basis of race and that the country was founded on the theft of land and labor. But Republicans have said concepts suggesting that people are inherently racist or that America was founded on racial oppression are divisive and have no place in the classroom.
“America is not a racist country,” he said, prompting one of several standing ovations and cheers during his speech.
“It is past time for America to discard the left-wing myth of systemic racism,” Pence said. “I commend state legislators and governors across the country for banning critical race theory from our schools.”
His choice of states, including an April appearance in South Carolina, is aimed at increasing his visibility as he considers whether to run for the White House in 2024.
Trump is increasingly acting and talking like he plans to make a run as he sets out on a more public phase of his post-presidency, beginning with a speech on Saturday in North Carolina.
Since leaving office in January, Pence has been doing work with the Heritage Foundation and Young America’s Foundation. His team said he plans more trips, including stops in Texas, California and Michigan.
Along with his visits to South Carolina and New Hampshire, Pence has been hitting the fundraising circuit. He is set to speak next week at another fundraiser hosted by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, will travel to North Carolina for a Heritage Foundation donor event, and will then head to California, where he will take part in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute’s speakers’ series, a Republican National Committee donor retreat and a Young America’s Foundation event, according to aides.
Among other prominent Republicans, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said in April that she would stand down if Trump decided to run in 2024. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has undertaken an aggressive schedule, visiting states that will play a pivotal role in the 2024 primaries and signing a contract with Fox News Channel.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
“Likely never see eye-to-eye” leaves a lot of wiggle room for this ambitious politician. He will never get my vote (no wiggle room for me).
Why? I for one would definitely give him a hard look. Trump did a lot of good things, he’s just WAAYYY to abrasive. Again, it wasn’t his policy that was the problem, it was his persona. Would Pence have the same policies without the crazy personality? I think he’s worth a strong consideration.
Golly, Brent; I’m so worried about who you might not vote for! Could it be you’re not the Most Important Person in the world?
It’s disgraceful how Associated Press liberal writers will do their damndest to keep January 6 alive while blatantly ignoring the far greater damage done by left-wing mobs who destroyed or seriously damaged the cores of so many American cities, not the least of which is/was our own Indianapolis.
Bob, the irony that you’re trying to keep alive protests that occurred six months before January 6th is not lost on me.
The reason Republicans don’t want to investigate January 6th is simple. They support the mob – future Democratic election victories must be considered illegitimate, to support their efforts in future elections when they overturn the will of voters. And things get messy when it’s made clear for the historical record that many of those same Republican politicians are complicit in encouraging the mob … even when there’s not a shred of evidence to support their claims. Please, Bob, share with us all again about that “targeted” fraud in big cities. Show us all that nonsense “evidence” again.
Look at who Republicans punished for January 6th. They punished Liz Cheney for not going along with the lie. They didn’t punish one single member who went to speak at that rally. It’s the party of Matt Gaetz and MTG from now on. It’s a party for kooks, liars, and cowards.
Also, it’s really hard to make 2022 midterm voters blame Democrats for all their problems with ongoing hearings. Republicans don’t want the Benghazi playbook used against them.
Joe, let’s not rewrite history. Democratic states used mail in ballots and ballot harvesting and all kinds of sneaky tricks – like shutting down counting locations and then reopening them hours later with – surprise! – thousands more Biden votes. Democrats in this last presidential race just kept counting until they had enough to win. Was it a centralized effort? I’m guessing it was local election boards that took it upon themselves to create a Biden win. There are so many statistical anomalies and impossibilities, that it is difficult to believe it wasn’t fixed. Kind of like Chicago elections for the last 5 decades. Only difference in 2020 was there were 50% of the country that stood up to protest. Hope the GOP takes steps to prevent this kind of chicanery in the future.
Liz Cheney is Dick Cheney’s daughter. Old line political GOP. Republicans had enough of the wimpy Bush years and saw what a fighter like Trump can accomplish in just 4 years. Democrats in DC are fighters and they couldn’t handle anyone pushing back on them which is why they tried so hard to get rid of Trump, ultimately succeeding by creating a year of chaos and destruction in 2020. They played the COVID like a trumpet and made the most of it, now it turns out a lot of the assumptions made last year by liberals were completely wrong – aka Fauchi.
If you don’t fight back against the likes of Pelosi and Schumer, you will be run over. There is no reason to reach across the aisle anymore, unless you want your arm chewed off.
It’s simple what’s lost on you, Joe B….the reality of Author Ayn Rand’s famous admonition, “You can ignore reality, but you can’t ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.”
I’ve previously posted Mike Lindell’s excellent documentary on how the 2020 Presidential Election was stolen, but you’d never watch it because the obvious would escape your mental acuity….and besides, it’s two hours long, likely exceeding your attention span by about an hour and 59 minutes. My 4-YO grandson can pay attention longer than that.
Amazing how so many commenters here still are blind to the damage Trump is inflicting on our democracy with his lies about election fraud. Never mind more than 60 lawsuits claiming the same thing were dismissed for lack evidence or standing (including some by a Supreme Court with three Trump appointees). Qanon, Mike Lindell, Sydney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, and Mike Flynn spew nothing but propaganda to a minority by squeaky base of voters who refuse to give up their white advantages in the hopes America will revert to the days of Ozzie and Harriet. Fortunately their ranks are decreasing and their hopes will not be realized.
Brent, it’s hopeless. When it comes to the people convinced that we’re all being snowed, that they’re the ones who really know what’s going on thanks to their selective intake of bad news sources, that everyone else is lying … they are so far gone from reality that it’s a waste of typing to engage them. Yet I still do. It’s a flaw.
The Bob’s and Rebecca’s of the world are in a cult, they just don’t realize it. They’re ignoring reality and we’re all paying the consequences. And it’s deadly important to them that their lies and fake news aren’t documented for history. It’s more important that Benghazi be better documented than the time a mob tried to storm the Capitol and assault elected officials. Everything has to be Biden’s fault in 2022, and we can’t let people be reminded that Republicans encouraged the mob with lies and fake news.
I mean, ballots were counted three times in Georgia. The Georgia election was run by Republicans. As you pointed out, every single election court case was tossed from lack of evidence. But hey, Mike Lindell came up with a “documentary”. Bob, if I wanted to see a farce, which is a better definition of what Lindell has hurled together, I’d watch Smokey and the Bandit III again.
As far as Mike Pence, his only chance of being President is at Hillsdale or Liberty.
Joe, the usual democrat talking points. What is there to investigate. Anyone with half a brain agrees it was stupid. The Antifa roits are stupid also. Try some original talking points.
The problem is that if you have half a brain, you can’t be a Republican these days. Being a Dick Lugar Republican is kind of lonely when your options are the Democrats and the Trumpublicans.
Lord, how conservative can you all get??
Not conservative, Scott, just brainwashed by a cult leader who himself has serious mental issues.
Trump began his presidential term as a liar (“largest inauguration crowd of all time”) and ended with a bigger lie (“stolen election”). The poor loser crowd has no evidence of massive fraud they yam on about (the federal agency said no evidence of fraud, as did Trump’s lackey the AG Barr) and those whiners conveniently ignore the fact that Georgia and Arizona, 2 states won by Biden, have their elections controlled by Republicans. The ballots were counted and recounted in both states but the poor loser crowd cannot accept the truth, so the whining continues, as some of the above comments show. Keep it up and you will get a genuine “Useful Idiot” certificate signed by Putin, who very much wants to discredit our democracy with Trump as his eager accomplice.
Now I see… the Pence story is via AP. The words “angry Trump supporters stormed the capital.” Hmmm. I have viewed several videos with polite, mild mannered Trump supporters leaving the area but were shuffled toward the capital by capital police. Also saw real video of 3 or 4 white vans with folks in “Maga” gear pull up to capital, that never attended the rally, that were escorted by capital police. People recording video said “Those people aren’t for Trump.. they’re Antifa. What $#!*!”
So, here we go, folks. Smoke and mirrors.
Yes Libby, I am sure you saw what you claimed have see, probably on Fox News Channel, NewsMax, OAM, Facebook, Parlor, or even the Russia News Service. Heavily edited, even doctored, propaganda support the twice-impeached losing candidate for president in the last election. The same guy who said covid would magically disappear by Easter 2029 but got infected in six months later and vaccinated before he left the White House. I hope you get well soon.
The fact Pence saw eye to eye with Trump on anything makes him unfit for public office.
I miss Richard Lugar.
Elizabeth must not have watched any of the major news networks on Jan.6. i channel surfed CNN, MSNBC, PBS and Fox News that afternoon. All showed the Trump crowd storming the capital. I have a granddaughter who works for a Senator on Capital Hill and what they experienced that day, live and in-person, does not match the fantasy alive in Libby’s brain.