Former Vice President Mike Pence – whose campaign to wrest the Republican presidential nomination from Donald Trump is limping on despite a near-total lack of grassroots support – took aim at his former boss over the 2020 election on the campaign trail, but earned little response from the crowd.
Speaking to a small and bored-looking group of Iowans, the ex-Veep was taken to task by one voter who believes he should have sent dubious votes from some states back to their legislatures for further examination. Pence took the establishment line, telling the woman he had no authority to do so.
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“I know by God’s grace I did exactly what the Constitution of the United States required of me that day; I kept my oath,” he said of his actions at the Electoral College vote count in Congress on January 6th 2021.
“The Constitution affords no authority for the Vice President or anyone else to reject votes or return votes to the states,” he insisted, although law professors such as John Eastman believed the Vice President was indeed the final arbiter at the time.
“I want to tell you, with all due respect, I said before, I said when I announced, President Trump was wrong about my authority that day, and he’s still wrong. I believe it with all my heart,” Pence added.
This broadside against the 45th President elicited a single lonely burst of applause from a person at the event, who quickly lost confidence. One other attendee belatedly offered a few quiet claps after the first person had already given up. Pence, for the most part, was left without audible support, standing awkwardly amid the decidedly unenthusiastic crowd.
