Former Vice President Mike Pence said he hoped Donald Trump would “come around” to accepting the result of the 2020 presidential election and realise he didn’t have the authority to undo Joe Biden’s victory.
In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Pence said he thought Trump would eventually understand he was “misled by the so-called legal experts that had advised him wrongly about the role that he thought I had, and still thinks I had that day.”
“I always hoped he’d come around on this issue because I believe no one who puts himself over the Constitution should ever be president of the United States,” Pence said.
Trump pressured Pence to overturn Biden’s win during the joint session of Congress to certify the result, which the then-vice president presided over. This angered Trump, who called out Pence on Twitter for lacking the courage to push through his agenda. Many Trump supporters chanted “Hang Mike Pence” as they roamed the halls of the Capitol looking for him during the January 6, 2021, insurrection.
Yet Pence, who is seeking the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, has not ruled out pardoning Trump if he is found guilty of mishandling classified documents — and if Pence becomes president — but repeated the question is “premature.”
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all 37 charges.
“I don’t know why some of my competitors in the Republican primary presume the president will be found guilty,” he said, arguing there are still many unknowns.
“At the end of the day it is saddening to me that we are now in this moment,” Pence continued.
Pence has had a hard time defining his position on Trump’s indictment. He told The Wall Street Journal he “can’t defend” the allegations facing Trump, but previously warned the Department of Justice against pursuing charges in the case.
During the Meet the Press interview, Pence also struggled to identify his voter base and how it is different from Trump’s.
An average of the latest national polls as of Saturday show Trump remains the front-runner in the race with 53.5%, while support for Pence stands at 5.6%, according to FiveThirtyEight.
The former vice president said people across the country have thanked him for his service to the country, and especially over his stance on January 6.
Pence sidestepped a follow-up question from NBC’s Chuck Todd about how many of those people were Trump voters, saying: “I know the people in our movement, and I can honestly tell you that they’re some of the best people in this country. They love America and they love our Constitution.”
Pence also sought to criticise his former boss over his “ambiguous message” on Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“I’m not even able to say who he would prefer to see win the war in Ukraine,” Pence said. “I think the United States needs to stand by the courageous fighters in Ukraine, give them the resources more quickly than Joe Biden has, to take the fight to the Russians, and repel this invasion.”
Trump has not condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade his neighbour and has claimed the conflict wouldn’t have even started if he were president.
“I could fix this war in Ukraine in 24 hours, but you can only do it from the presidential seat,” told Fox News in May.