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Former Vice President Mike Pence attacked his former boss Donald Trump, slamming the latter’s role in the January 6, 2021, events at the US Capitol.
Pence is considered a likely candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, while Trump has already made his candidacy official.
Pence’s comments at the Gridiron Club Dinner in Washington, DC, were his “sharpest rebuke yet” of his former superior concerning the 1/6 breach of the US Capitol, National Review reports.
The former vice president declared that Trump was wrong to try to cast doubt on the results of the 2020 election, thus “increasing the rift” between the former running mates.
“I had no right to overturn the election, and his reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day,” Pence stated, as quoted by CNN.
“I know that history will hold Donald Trump accountable,” the former vice president added.
The report notes that the dinner of the Gridiron Club, one of America’s oldest journalistic organizations, is usually a “lighthearted affair.”
However, Pence spoke seriously in his remarks about January 6, 2021, events at the US Capitol.
He declared the invasion of the Capitol by Trump supporters “one thing I haven’t joked about” and “a tragic day.”
It is noted that on January 6, 2021, Pence “ceremonially presided” over the certification of the 2020 election results in his role as president of the Senate, while Trump had tried to pressure him to overturn the results and cancel Joe Biden’s victory.
Some protesters who breached the US Capitol on 1/6 reportedly chanted, “Hang Mike Pence!”
The former vice president’s comments come days after Fox News host Tucker Carlson aired previously unseen footage from inside the Capitol, which he said showed the storming as “mostly peaceful chaos” by “sightseers.”
Pence, however, sought to counter such characterizations, insisting they were downplaying the 1/6.
“Tourists don’t injure 140 police officers by sightseeing. Tourists don’t break down doors to get to the Speaker of the House or voice threats against public officials,” he stated.
“Make no mistake about it, what happened that day was a disgrace, and it mocks decency to portray it in any other way,” the former vice president elaborated.
Pence also argued that Americans “have a right to know what took place,” even as he recently asked a judge to stop a federal grand-jury subpoena for testifying on January 6.
In his remarks, Pence also mocked Trump about the latter’s alleged mishandling of classified documents – even though the former vice president is in the same boat.
“I read that some of those classified documents they found at Mar-a-Lago were actually stuck in the president’s Bible. Which proves he had absolutely no idea they were there,” Pence said.
He also joked that Trump hadn’t insulted him like he had insulted others.
“He’s never called me a low-energy moron. Not yet,” Pence said.
