On Wednesday evening, former Vice President Mike Pence made an appearance at a CNN Town Hall in Des Moines, Iowa, addressing a gathering of Republican voters.
During the 90-minute conversation with host Dana Bash, Pence, who previously served as an Indiana congressman and governor, delved into several subjects, including January 6, his presidential aspirations, abortion, Ukraine, and an array of other topics.
Perhaps the most notable moment of the town hall was when Pence was discussing January 6, specifically his remarks about Trump. Pence reiterated his longstanding position that Trump was wrong to believe that the vice president had any power to overturn the presidential election.
“When the president asserted that I had the right to overturn the election, I said today that I felt that he was — he was asking me to choose between him and the Constitution. I chose the Constitution. And I always will,” Pence said. “It was a difficult day. I had, frankly, hoped the president would come around in the years since and see that we had done our duty under the Constitution to preside over the count of the electoral vote as dictated by our founders. But it’s not to be. I said today President Trump was wrong then, he’s wrong now.”
Pence added, “Anyone who puts themselves above the Constitution should never be president in the first place. And anyone who asks anyone else to put themselves over the Constitution should never be president again,” in a clear swipe against Trump.
Pence also suggested that, if elected, he has no intention of pardoning any J6 participants, as Trump has said he would for select people.
“On the day of January 6, I issued a tweet demanding that people leave the Capitol and end the violence. And I said that those that failed to do that should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Pence said. “And I continue to believe that today. We cannot ever allow what happened on January 6 to happen again in the heart of our democracy. And I will stand by the decisions and the due process of court and our laws. And I have no interest or no intention of pardoning those that assaulted police officers or vandalized our Capitol.”
No mention was made of the way many J6 prisoners have had their civil rights violated.
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Pence did slam the unequal treatment Trump has received over possessing classified documents compared to Joe Biden.
“I don’t know the facts of the president’s case. I don’t know the facts of the former president’s case. And — but what we have got to have in this country is equal treatment under the law,” Pence said.
“I mean, when I informed the Department of Justice that we had classified materials potentially in our home — they were at my home — the FBI was on my front doorstep the next day. And what we found out was that, when Joe Biden apparently alerted the Department of Justice, 80 days later, they showed up at his office. That’s not equal treatment under the law,” Pence continued, through multiple interruptions by Bash. “And we have got to end this two-tiered system of justice.”
Despite his semi-defense of Trump over the classified documents situation, Pence’s remarks about January 6 and his implication that Trump should never be president again will most certainly alienate him from Trump supporters, despite his otherwise strong conservative views. Pence’s entry into the race won’t change the fact that it’s still a showdown between Trump and DeSantis.
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