Pence Hammers Trump on Fox News After New Indictment: ‘Demanded’ I ‘Essentially Overturn the Election’

Former Vice President Mike Pence was asked point blank on Fox News Wednesday if he believed then President Donald Trump committed crimes when trying to overturn the 2020 election. Fox’s Martha MacCallum asked the question after reading to Pence from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s 4-count indictment of Trump, which was made public on Tuesday.

“But let’s be clear on this point. It wasn’t just that he asked for a pause. The president specifically asked me and his gaggle of crackpot lawyers asked me to literally reject votes, which would have resulted in the issue being turned over to the House of Representatives. And literally chaos would have ensued,” Pence responded when asked to react to the gravity of the charges.

“So, well, Martha, I just people people can read the indictment. And frankly, I’ve said before, I had hoped it had not come to this point. You know, I don’t know if the government can meet the standard, the burden of proof beyond reasonable doubt for criminal charges. But the American people deserve to know that President Trump and his advisors didn’t just ask me to pause. They asked me to reject votes, return votes, essentially to overturn the election and to keep faith with the oath that I made to the American people and to Almighty God. I rejected that out of hand, and I did my duty that day,” he added.

“Well, you say, you know, the criminal process is separate, but put yourself on that jury for just a moment. If you were on the jury, would you say that this defendant, the former president, had committed a crime that day? Do you believe it rises to the level of a crime?” MacCallum asked.

“Well, you know, Martha, I don’t know. I mean, honestly, I don’t know the full case in chief that the government has. And, you know, I think I’ve said on your network many times that, you know, I don’t know if taking bad advice from lawyers is a crime,” Pence replied, adding:

But, you know, I would leave that legal process, and frankly, the profound issues about the First Amendment to, you know, to the courts to sort that out. But, look, I, I think it’s important that the American people know what happened in the days before January 6th.

President Trump demanded that I use my authority as vice president, presiding over the count of the Electoral College to essentially overturn the election by returning or literally rejecting votes. I had no authority to do that. And frankly, Martha, it seems to me that some of the argument that I hear coming between the lines from his lawyers is something of a concession that that he may have gotten bad advice, that he was just taking advice from his attorneys. But, look, you know, i know I did the right thing that day. I’ll always stand by it. It was a tragic day. But again, by God’s grace with my family, at my side, with my key advisers, at our side, and with the courageous work of law enforcement at the Capitol, we quell the violence. We reconvene the Congress and completed our work.

Pence reiterated that he had no right as vice president to reject electoral college votes from the states.

Watch the full clip above via Fox News.

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