Former Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday he “doesn’t recall” if he was told by White House officials at the time of a false elector scheme to overturn certain 2020 election results prior to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
When asked by NBC “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd why he asked the Senate parliamentarian whether there were any other electors to consider during the process of Congress certifying the 2020 election, Pence responded that he did so due to reports in the press.
“I did ask the parliamentarian very directly, Chuck. I asked her because I was hearing rumors. I was reading in the newspaper that there were alternate electors. I just — I asked her point-blank,” Pence said.
“Was anybody in the White House telling you this?” Todd asked.
“I asked her if there were any other electors from any state, and she said there was not — I don’t recall that, I just remember hearing it in the public. And I wanted a definitive answer whether or not the parliamentarian had received any additional electoral votes. She had not. So as you know, I — we actually changed the language as those Electoral College votes were recorded,” Pence responded.
Pence said his conversation with the Senate parliamentarian occurred Jan. 3, three days before the Capitol riot. The former vice president said he heard rumors and read of possible alternate electors in the press but does not recall anybody in the White House who told him of false elector schemes.
“I have no right to overturn the election. The constitution is quite clear. As vice president, my job was to preside over a joint session of Congress, where the Constitution says the Electoral College votes shall be opened and shall be counted, and I know by God’s grace I did my duty that day.”
Earlier this month, Trump was indicted for his attempt to stay in power after losing the 2020 presidential election. In its 45-page indictment, the Department of Justice alleges Trump led a campaign of “dishonesty, fraud and conceit” to obstruct a “bedrock function” of a democracy.
The indictment includes numerous details of Pence’s conversations with Trump leading up to Jan. 6, when Pence, in his role as vice president, oversaw Congress’s official Electoral College count that solidified President Biden’s win over Trump.
Pence also said he stood by Trump’s comments that the former vice president is “too honest.”
“It’s part of dialogue that happened between the president and me and that was related, I think, to a bogus of a lawsuit that was brought to try and force my hand, to have a federal judge say that I had the right to throw out votes,” Pence said. “Look, there’s almost no idea more un-American than the idea that any one person could choose which votes to count for president of the United States.”