GOP Rep. Who Opposed Certifying Biden's Election On Jan. 6 Now Regrets Vote, Calls Trump A 'Coward'

For months after his defeat in the 2020 election, former President Donald Trump promoted delusions that Democrats coordinated with voting software companies and foreign adversaries to produce widespread election fraud, "stealing" the victory from him.

When Trump's efforts to steal the election by pressuring local officials, mounting failed lawsuits, and targeting each state's electoral certifications, Trump urged his supporters to join him for a "Save America" rally outside the White House on January 6.

That was the day a joint session of Congress convened, as it did every four years, to nationally certify the results of the most recent presidential election. In addition to calling for then-Vice President Mike Pence to unilaterally toss electoral votes of swing states Trump lost, the former President urged his allies in Congress to object to electoral votes, forcing each chamber to vote on the legitimacy of states whose electors were in dispute.

As history will remember, the mob of pro-Trump extremists marched from the White House to the Capitol and stormed the building, shattering windows, ransacking offices, beating police officers, calling for the execution of lawmakers, and upending the certification for hours.

But even after their very lives were threatened, more than a hundred members of the House, along with seven Republican Senators, voted to toss out the electoral votes of at least one state.

Among them was Republican Tom Rice of South Carolina, but in a recent interview, Rice expressed regret for his vote.

Though he still believes there were "issues" with the election, Rice told Politico:

“In the wee hours of that disgraceful night, while waiting for the Capitol of our great country to be secured, I knew I should vote to certify. But because I had made a public announcement of my intent to object, I did not want to go back on my word. So yeah, I regret my vote to object."

He went on to skewer Trump for waiting hours after the insurrection was underway to finally urge his supporters to vacate the Capitol:

“There was a coward in that equation, but it wasn’t Mike Pence."

In calling Trump a coward, Rice alluded to the former President's smears of Mike Pence for refusing to exercise powers not granted to him in the Constitution by tossing electoral votes of bellwether states.

It's worth noting that, when the House voted a week later to impeach Trump for inciting an insurrection, Rice was one of only 10 House Republicans who voted in favor.

Some were happy to see Rice publicly condemn his past actions.

Others remained unmoved.

So far, Rice is the only House Republican who voted against certifying Biden's victory that has since expressed regret for doing so.