Donald Trump, Mike Pence.Photo: Evan Vucci/AP
The rest is history, with thedeadly riotat the U.S. Capitol taking place shortly after, just as Pence and congressional lawmakers began gathering to count Electoral College votes.
Though all evidence gathered since 2021 shows that Biden fairly won both the electoral and popular votes in the last presidential election, the Republicans being considered as Trump’s next running mate are still slow to agree that Pence did the right thing on Jan. 6.
Then-President Donald Trump with Ben Carson, his secretary of housing and urban development.Michael Reynolds - Pool/Getty Images
Ben Carson, a former neurosurgeon whoran for president in 2016and later worked with Trump as his secretary of housing and urban development, demurred when asked whether he would have done what Pence did in a recentFox Newsinterview.
“Well, first off, people should know that Mike Pence spent a lot of time laboring over that decision,” Carson responded. “I talked to him the night before and he was really torn over what was the appropriate thing to do.”
Carson continued: “I think it would have been appropriate, perhaps, to look at all of the alternative theories seriously because there was significant controversy about what had happened in the election.”
Asked again if he believed what Pence did was “right or not,” Carson said, “I think the right thing would have been to try to focus on having a process that is legitimate.”
New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, a loyal Trump supporter who chairs the House Republican Conference.Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Stefanik was more forceful than Carson, saying, “I would not have done what Mike Pence did. I don’t think that was the right approach."
She further claimed that there “was unconstitutional overreach in states like Pennsylvania,” saying, “I think it’s very important that we continue to stand up for the Constitution and have legal and secure elections, which we did not have in 2020.”
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a 2024 presidential race dropout who is reportedly on Trump’s VP shortlist.Stephen Yang/Getty Images
Meanwhile, North Dakota Gov.Doug Burgum— a wealthy software executive who mounted a challenge to Trump in the GOP primaries butfell out of the racein December — would not answer when asked the same question in aCNNinterview.
Asked if he would have done what Mike Pence did if he were vice president on Jan. 6, 2021, Burgum said only, “this election … is going to be about the things that matter to Americans,” before speaking about the U.S. economy.
Pence ultimately did affirm the results for Biden on Jan. 6, 2021 — hours after lawmakers were able to reenter the building and the mob was cleared. Hehas since calledJan. 6 “a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol.”
Pence launched a run for the presidency in 2024, butsuspended his campaignlast October. Trump previously ruled out the idea of choosing Pence as his running mate again after their fallout over the Capitol riot.
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source: people.com
