Former US Vice President Mike Pence has spoken out against his former boss Donald Trump’s view that he could have blocked the results of the 2020 presidential election. “President Trump is wrong,” Pence said during a speech in Florida on Friday, according to Reuters news agency. “I had no right to destroy the election results.”
Donald Trump still insists that Pence, as chairman of the joint session of Congress, should have avoided ratification of the election results on January 6, 2021, because the election was “stolen.” But his former vice president disagrees. “The presidency belongs to the American people. There is honestly no idea more un-American than the idea that a single person can elect the American president.”
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Pence said Friday that he understands the disappointment with the election results, but that he fulfilled his duty on January 6. “The truth is that there is more at stake than our political party or our political future. If we lose faith in our constitution, we will not only lose elections, we will lose our country.” Relations between Donald Trump and his former vice president have deteriorated since the storming of the Capitol.
It was also announced Friday that Republican representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger will no longer receive support from their own parties. They regularly criticize former President Trump and are the only Republicans on a committee investigating the events of January 6 last year.