Former Vice President Mike Pence (R) said Sunday that efforts to remove former President Trump from the 2024 vote based on the 14th Amendment's “insurrection clause” are “antithetical” to democracy.
In an interview on CNN's “State of the Union,” Pence criticized efforts to remove Trump from the presidential vote and refused to call January 6 an insurrection.
“I never called what happened on January 6th a riot,” Pence told CNN's Jake Tapper. “I was there. It was a riot, the way it broke out was a riot, but I've never seen it any other way.”
“While I said the president's words were reckless, I believe that history and the American people will ultimately hold the president accountable for his role that day, but these “I think the efforts are really antithetical to the very democracy that President Biden and many Democrats have talked about wanting to protect,” Pence said.
Mr. Pence, then vice president, was certifying the electoral results of the 2020 election on January 6, when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol and put his life in danger. He has often criticized Trump's actions.
The question of whether Trump's name will remain on the presidential ballot is now in the hands of the Supreme Court, which ruled Friday that Trump's decision to block the former president from the state's primary ballot announced that it would hear his appeal. This decision could have a consequential impact on the duration of the 2024 presidential cycle.
Pence, who declined to run for president in 2024, expressed confidence that the American people would choose the right candidate and said he was confident the Supreme Court would take a similar view.
“I am confident that the American people will make wise choices. I believe it will not happen,” Pence added.
“And we have reason to believe that the U.S. Supreme Court will do just that,” he added.
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