Questioned by Iowa Critic, Pence Strongly Defends Actions on Jan. 6

Former Vice President Mike Pence meets with guests at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition in Clive, Iowa, on April 22, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

SIOUX CITY, Iowa—Former Vice President Mike Pence reaffirmed that his actions on Jan. 6 were “exactly what the Constitution of the United States required” after a disgruntled voter accused him of handing the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.

“If it wasn’t for your vote, we would not have [President] Joe Biden in the White House,” Luann Bertrand told Mr. Pence at a July 5 campaign stop at the Pizza Ranch restaurant.

“Joe Biden shouldn’t be there. And all those wonderful things that you and [Former President Donald] Trump were doing together would be continuing, and this country would be on the right path,” Ms. Bertrand said.

“Do you ever second guess yourself?”

Before Mr. Pence could respond, Ms. Bertrand continued. “It was not like you were going to personally elect him. We all know by the number of votes that were there who won that election. You changed history for this country.”

President Donald Trump looks on after a news conference with Vice President Mike Pence in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on Feb. 26, 2020. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Mr. Pence, flanked by a tight-lipped Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa), responded tactfully to the question but refused to concede the point.

Mr. Pence asserted that, as vice president, he had the authority to take any action other than to preside over the joint session of Congress where the electoral ballots were opened and counted and that former President Donald Trump was wrong in asking him to do so.

The polite-but-pointed exchange gave Mr. Pence the opportunity both to defend his record and to critique Mr. Trump, his former running mate and now political opponent.

Electoral Vote Count

Mr. Trump claimed victory in the 2020 election despite the reported results of the balloting, which showed Mr. Biden winning by an electoral vote margin of 306 to 232 and a popular vote margin of approximately 81 million to 74 million.

Republicans, citing voting irregularities surrounding rule changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, contested the result in some 60 court challenges. Only one case was successful, but the finding did not affect the outcome for the county in question, the court ruled.

As the date for counting the electoral college votes drew closer, Mr. Trump reportedly asked Mr. Pence multiple times to invalidate the ballots, sending them back to the states for recertification in an apparent attempt to have Republican-controlled state legislatures decide the election.

Despite mounting pressure from Mr. Trump and his supporters, Mr. Pence refused to comply, insisting that the Constitution did not afford him that authority.

Certification of the electoral vote was interrupted on Jan. 6, 2021, when protesters breached the Capitol, forcing members to vacate both legislative chambers. Mr. Pence, however, refused to leave the building and resumed the count later that day.

He explained his reasoning to Ms. Bertrand and several dozen listeners at the July 5 campaign stop.

Pence’s Stance

“You never want to let Washington, D.C., run elections. You certainly would never want one person in Washington, D.C. to decide who the president of the United States is,” Pence said.

He explained that there are two ways to resolve questions about the validity of an election.

“Number one is you take those issues to the legal process in the state and recount. Secondly, you take them to the courts, which we did very aggressively,” Mr. Pence said.

Protesters inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Brent Stirton/Getty Images

“But the courts upheld those changes in virtually every instance. And in every instance where they would have any impact whatsoever. At the end of the day, when Iowa certified your results and sent them to Washington, D.C., ... the Constitution of the United States, in Article II, says that it’s the job of the vice president to serve as the presiding officer at a joint session where you open and count the votes,” said Mr. Pence.

“My job was to oversee the session of Congress where objections could be heard. And I made sure that objections would be recognized ... The Constitution says you open and count the votes, no more no less. The Constitution affords no authority to the vice president or anyone else to reject votes or return them to the states,” he said. “No vice president in American history ever asserted the authority that you have been convinced that I had.”

“I want to tell you all due respect ... I said when I announced [that] President Trump was wrong about my authority that day, and he is still wrong,” Mr. Pence said.

Increasing Criticism of Trump

In seeking the Republican nomination for president, Mr. Pence has become increasingly critical of Mr. Trump on a variety of issues.

When announcing his campaign in a June 7 town-hall event televised by CNN, Mr. Pence said, “When the president asserted that I had the right to overturn the election, I said today that I felt that he was … asking me to choose between him and the Constitution.”

“Anyone who puts themselves above the Constitution should never be president in the first place. And anyone who asks anyone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president again,” Mr. Pence added.

The former vice president has also said that Mr. Trump’s stance on Social Security is the same as Mr. Biden’s in that both are ignoring the looming insolvency of the Social Security trust fund. Mr. Pence has also distanced himself from Trump on abortion and federal spending.

An ad produced by Mr. Pence’s super PAC, Committed to America, stated that Mr. Trump “failed the test of leadership“ on Jan. 6. Another ad said that Trump was “an apologist for thugs and dictators,” meaning Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Following the campaign event, Ms. Bertrand was not persuaded to vote for Mr. Pence, though she did say she would consider it.

“But he has that one hiccup,” she said.