Pence rebukes Trump after indictment: Georgia election ‘not stolen’

Former Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday rebuked former President Trump’s continued claims of 2020 election fraud, saying the electoral contest was “not stolen” in his first public comments following Trump’s latest indictment.

“Despite what the former president and his allies have said for now more than two and a half years and continue to insist … the Georgia election was not stolen, and I had no right to overturn the election on Jan. 6,” Pence said during a keynote address at the National Conference of State Legislatures summit in Indiana.

As recently as Tuesday, Trump claimed to have evidence of 2020 “presidential election fraud” in Georgia, saying he’d share more details at a press conference next week. That prompted pushback from the state’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, who certified the election results after that election.

“For nearly three years now, anyone with evidence of fraud has failed to come forward — under oath — and prove anything in a court of law. Our elections in Georgia are secure, accessible, and fair and will continue to be as long as I am governor,” Kemp wrote on X, the platform formerly called Twitter.

Pence, who is challenging Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, pointed to those comments Wednesday, maintaining he had no right to overturn the last election results in his capacity as vice president overseeing Congress’s certification of the vote Jan. 6, 2021.

“And I’ll always believed by God’s grace, I did my duty that day to see to the peaceful transfer of power under the Constitution of the United States and the laws of this country,” Pence said to applause.

Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis (D) unveiled charges Monday against Trump and 18 others related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.

Pence said Wednesday that “no one is above the law” and stressed that the former president and others indicted “are entitled to the presumption of innocence that every American enjoys.”

The indictment comes after Trump faced multiple federal charges brought by special counsel Jack Smith earlier this month alleging the former president orchestrated a campaign to block the transfer of power after the 2020 election.

After Trump was indicted on the federal charges, which included conspiracy to defraud the U.S., Pence condemned the former president for actions on the day of Congress’s certification and the Capitol riot.

“Our country is more important than one man. Our Constitution is more important than any one man’s career. On January 6th, former President Trump demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution. I chose the Constitution and I always will,” Pence said at the time.

Since his indictment on federal charges over the 2020 election earlier this month, Trump has ramped up his attacks on his former vice president. He wrote on Truth Social that he felt “badly” for Pence and his presidential campaign, saying that he has “gone to the Dark Side.”