Republican Rep. Greg Pence on Wednesday publicly defended his brother, former Vice President Mike Pence, who said former President Donald Trump was “wrong” in claiming that Pence had the right to overturn the 2020 election on January 6, 2021.
The former vice president has been the subject of harsh criticism from some Trump allies after his public rebuke of the former president over his false election claims, which have become a litmus test of party loyalty.
“I’ll stand by my brother now and forever. I love my brother. I’ll stand by him,” the Indiana congressman said when asked by CNN’s Manu Raju if he agrees with his brother’s recent speech, in which he warned against conservatives who continue to insist the vice president can alter an election.
Speaking at the Federalist Society Florida Chapters conference near Orlando last week, the former vice president delivered his strongest rebuke yet to Trump’s ongoing efforts to relitigate the 2020 presidential election, calling it “un-American” to suggest one person could have decided the outcome. “Under the Constitution, I had no right to change the outcome of our election, and (Vice President) Kamala Harris will have no right to overturn the election when we beat them in 2024,” Pence said.
Pence’s condemnation of Trump followed a series of ongoing attempts from Trump to blame the failed efforts to overturn the 2020 election on his former second in command. Trump has suggested that a recent bipartisan push to revise the process of counting electoral votes by Congress was proof that Pence had the power to change the results.
Pence has repeatedly defended his role in certifying the election results and in June, he acknowledged that he and Trump remain divided on the events surrounding the riot at the US Capitol.
Marc Short, the former chief of staff for Pence, said Sunday that the former vice president’s most recent and rare rebuke of Trump was prompted because Trump’s comments about Pence’s ability to overturn the 2020 presidential election “merited response.”
