Former Republican Vice President Mike Pence openly criticized his former running mate, ex-President Donald Trump, on Tuesday night following Trump's indictment on charges related to his alleged efforts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
The indictment, unveiled earlier in the day by the Justice Department, outlined the ways in which Trump pressured Pence in the days leading up to the January 6th Capitol riots. Trump and his co-conspirators urged Pence to refuse to certify the election results despite Trump's popular vote and electoral vote losses to Democrat Joe Biden.
Pence attempted to distance himself from the former President when he issued the following tweet:
"Today's indictment serves as an important reminder: anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States."
You can see his tweet below.
According to the indictment, when Pence hesitated to support the idea of blocking Biden's victory, Trump remarked, "You're too honest," an event about which Pence testified before a grand jury which subsequently issued the indictment.
Pence testified about this incident before a grand jury, which subsequently issued the indictment. This event was also recounted by Pence in his book, So Help Me God.
The indictment further claims that Trump continued to press Pence about the scheme to overturn the election during a December 25, 2020 phone call in which Pence extended Christmas greetings. In response, Pence reportedly told Trump, "I don't think I have the authority to change the outcome."
Trump's harshest critics blame Pence for his perceived complicity in Trump's most contentious decisions and for remaining steadfastly aligned with him for an extended period.
Prior to the events of January 6, 2021—the day a mob of Trump's supporters attacked the nation's seat of government in a bid to overturn the 2020 election results—Pence had demonstrated remarkable allegiance to his former superior, staunchly supporting him throughout their tenure together.
Political consultant Stuart Stevens called out Pence for his inadequate response to a failed coup whose machinations were happening in plain sight well before the storming of the United States Capitol.
Stevens excoriated Pence for failing to alert both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the public of the threat, noting that he'd instead reached out to retired politician Dan Quayle—who served as the Vice President during the first Bush administration—for guidance regarding the electoral certification.
In a follow-up tweet, he stressed that Pence "took notes while [the] coup was planned but did nothing to alert law enforcement or the public," pointing to his prior record of unethical behavior.
Pence has faced heavy criticism following his statement.
Pence has long appeared to play both sides, on one hand condemning the former President for pushing the "Big Lie" that the 2020 election was fraudulent, while on the other accusing Democrats of not advocating for election integrity.
In June 2021, five months after the attack, he acknowledged that he and Trump would never "see eye to eye" on January 6, which he referred to as
"... a dark day in the 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 and that same day, we reconvened the Congress and did our duty under the Constitution and the laws of the United States."
However, in March, just three months before he issued that statement, he accused Democrats of ignoring "valid reforms and concerns" regarding the election despite there being no evidence that election fraud took place.
Saying that the events of January 6 "deprived the American people of a substantive discussion in Congress about election integrity in America," he claimed Democrats are ignoring the concerns of Republicans who have bought into the former president's lies about the election.
