When the Capitol riot took place a year ago, some of those insurrectionists were yelling, “Hang Mike Pence,” referring to President Donald Trump’s Vice President Mike Pence who was about to perform the ceremonial role of approving the Electoral Vote count on Certification Day that formally represents the peaceful transfer of power to the succeeding president, who was Joe Biden.
These rioters were yelling this because, right before the ceremony began, which involved all 535 members of Congress, President Donald Trump had held a political rally attended by thousands of his voting supporters less than a mile from the Capitol building. During his 80-minute speech, Trump called for Pence to overturn the election results, claiming the election was fraud that stole his presidency, by sending the vote counts of six swing states back to those states, effectively preventing the Constitution-directed transfer of power. Pence had no authority to do that, which he and Trump had been discussing for days. In Trump’s speech, he had sounded like a New York mobster in threatening Pence’s life. Pence, it seems, was fortunate that he didn’t lose his life that day as he was whisked away to a secret place of safety.
Ever since that riot, Pence has continued to be a supporter of ex-President Trump. It was nauseating for me to see him do this when, IMO, he should have exercised courage and just plainly stated that Trump was incorrect about that. The best he could muster over the past year had been that merely that the Constitution did not provide him with the authority to do what Mr. Trump was asking him (I would say “telling him”) to do.
Yesterday, Pence spoke at the annual meeting of the politically-conservative Federalist Society held at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. For the first time, he said of Trump’s constant harangue that Pence should have sent to those electoral votes back, “President Trump was wrong. I had no right to overturn the election.” Is Pence a hero in saying it?
It looks like Mr. Pence did that only because of two people who testified this week before the special committee investigating the 1/6 Capitol riot. That would be Marc Short, Pence’s chief of staff, and Greg Jacob, Pence’s top lawyer, during Pence’s vice presidency. Both men were expected to answer all of the committee’s questions and to answer them truthfully. That might have caused Mr. Pence to feel pressured that he needed to come forth publicly with a bold and honest statement about Trump being wrong, even mentioning Trump’s name for the first time.
Furthermore, the committee would have certainly desired Mr. Pence to voluntarily appear before the committee for questioning as well, which he has refused to do. The committee could subpoena him, but it appears at this point that it will not do so. Thus, although Vice President Pence did the right things on Certification Day by approving of the Electoral Vote count, thus greatly protecting our democracy, I still don’t think Mr. Pence has been presenting himself as that much of a hero for our country. What do you think?
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