Pence Fires At Trump ‘A Disgrace’
Former Vice President Mike Pence took aim at his former boss, President Donald Trump, at the Gridiron dinner in Washington, D.C., claiming that history will hold him accountable for the Capitol attack on January 6th.
Pence, who was in the Capitol on the day of the attack, said it was “wrong” for Trump to try to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Pence also said that it “mocks decency” to portray the attack as anything other than a “disgrace”. He didn’t say much in the months following the attack but is being more vocal with his claims in a memoir released back in November.
The attack was an attempt by thousands of President Trump supporters to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election results that Trump lost to Joe Biden. Trump, however, continued to make false claims of voter fraud and criticized Pence for certifying the results. The attack resulted in nine deaths, more than a thousand arrests, and hundreds of convictions, including some for sedition.
In response to these claims, Republicans have been quick to point out the “double standard” being applied to the Capitol attack compared to the protests that occurred during the summer of 2020. Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, said, “We saw very few arrests when there were attacks by members of Antifa and Black Lives Matter. I had my house spray painted two summers ago and no one’s been held to account for that.” Mace also pointed out that the attack on the Capitol had been an “attack on democracy” but that the protests during the summer of 2020 had been a “response to legitimate grievances”.
Republicans have also criticized the decision by the House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to release more than 40,000 hours of Capitol security footage to Fox News host Tucker Carlson, claiming that Carlson’s portrayal of the attack was “misleading”.
It remains to be seen whether or not President Trump will be held accountable for the Capitol attack, but it’s clear that Republicans are standing firm in their belief that the attack was not as bad as Democrats are making it out to be. And, if Pence does decide to run for the Republican nomination in 2024, it could spell the beginning of the end of Trump’s political career.
And yet, Pence will not protect the American people and our democracy by testifying truthfully before the grand jury about Trump’s criminal pressure campaign to overturn the results of a presidential election. Mike Pence – the smallest man in America. pic.twitter.com/3ZkEulh2sG
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) March 12, 2023