Way to go, Mike, GOP big sez after Pence criticizes Don
Former Vice President Mike Pence was justified in criticizing ex-President Donald Trump about the riot of Jan. 6, 2021, an influential Texas Republican said Sunday, adding that Pence “exercised moral clarity and judgment” on that day.
Pence’s remarks, in a speech over the weekend, that Trump’s “reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day” were some of his strongest criticisms of his former boss.
The former veep, along with other Republicans, is weighing a possible challenge to Trump for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, moves that will force their fellow party members to choose sides.
“Vice President Pence exercised moral clarity and judgment that day,” Texas Republican Rep. Michael McCaul said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“It was a dark day, and I think history will judge everyone by what they did that day.”
Trump unsuccessfully pressured Pence and other GOP lawmakers meeting on Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol to block the certification of the 2020 election results.
McCaul said Pence “avoided a major constitutional crisis that day.”
“As you know, I voted for certification, that is our constitutional role, not to overturn state-certified ballots,” said McCaul, who is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
In his speech Saturday at the annual Gridiron Dinner in Washington for politicians and journalists, Pence said, “President Trump was wrong.”
“I had no right to overturn the election,” the Indiana Republican said, adding, “I know history will hold Donald Trump accountable.”
During the riot at the U.S. Capital, some demonstrators chanted, “Hang Mike Pence.”
In its final report, the House committee that investigated the riot said Trump “had riled up a mob that hunted his own vice president.”
“Make no mistake about it, what happened that day was a disgrace,” Pence said in his speech.
“And it mocks decency to portray it any other way.”