From our correspondent in the United States,
For more than a year, he kept a low profile. But on Friday, Mike Pence frontally challenged Donald Trump, who continues to repeat that his vice-president should have intervened to block the certification of the presidential results on January 6, 2021. “President Trump is wrong,” said Mike Pence in front of conservatives from the Federalist Society, in Orlando, Florida, denouncing an “un-American notion”.
🔴Mike Pence responds to Donald Trump with his most virulent criticism: “President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election. There is nothing more un-American than the notion that a person can choose the American president” pic.twitter.com/4pxFh2pJna
— Philippe Berry (@ptiberry) February 4, 2022
“President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election. There is nothing more un-American than the notion that one person can choose the American president,” Pence insisted.
“Hang Mike Pence”
The cold but respectful relationship between Mike Pence and Donald Trump became strained after the November 2020 presidential election. After the failure of all his legal remedies, Donald Trump clung to one last hope: that his vice- President, taking advantage of an ambiguous electoral law of 1885, rejects the electors of several disputed states, so that they can be replaced by pro-Trump voters offering victory to the incumbent president.
But on the morning of Jan. 6, Pence released a letter, explaining that his role was primarily “ceremonial” and that it was his “constitutional duty” to certify the results. Two steps away, in front of his supporters, Donald Trump launches: “Mike Pence, I hope you will resist for the good of our country. If you don’t, I’m going to be very disappointed.”
As his supporters storm the Capitol, prompting the emergency evacuation of the Vice President, Donald Trump continues to fuel the fire with this tweet: “Mike Pence did not have the courage to do what was necessary to protect our country and our constitution. A little later, several rioters chanted: “Hang Mike Pence”.
Trump puts it back
Donald Trump never digested this affront. In recent days, the former American president has published two statements, repeating that “Mike Pence had the right” and “could have overturned the election”. The ex-White House tenant then assured that the congressional committee on the assault on the Capitol “should investigate the reason why Mike Pence did not return the votes for a new certification”.
Although he had already repeated that he was “proud” of his decision, Mike Pence had never challenged Donald Trump so head-on. A change that could be linked to the American presidential election of 2024, with Republicans starting to place themselves for a primary with a knife drawn.