WATCH: Pence Shuts Down Student Who Asked Why He ‘Bucked’ Trump on January 6

 

Former Vice President Mike Pence was confronted on Monday about why he didn’t unilaterally overturn the 2020 election on January 6.

Pence was speaking at a Young America’s Foundation event at the University of Iowa and took questions from the audience. One of the individuals who attended asked the former vice president about January 6 and reports of what was going on behind the scenes.

“On January 5th, you were convinced that the election was correctly stolen,” Jared started. “You, Trump, Peter Navarro, John Eastman, and others had a plan on the morning of the 6th to send the certification back to the states.”

On the night of the 5th or the morning of the 6th, someone in the White House convinced you that it would destroy your hopes of becoming president if you sent it back to the states. My question is what is the name of the person who told you to buck President Trump’s plan and certify the votes?

James Madison,” Pence responded.

Then-President Donald Trump repeatedly put pressure on Pence before January 6 to do something he actually could not do in his role as VP, which Pence acknowledged in a statement before the riots began.

Trump even attacked Pence on this moments after he was evacuated. The riots at the Capitol were the culmination of weeks and weeks of Trump stirring up lies and conspiracies about the election.

Pence told the questioner, “Everything you’ve recited relative to me is false.”

He said that still harbors concerns about “irregularities” and said he supports efforts to “improve voter integrity” in states like Georgia and Arizona.

“The Constitution is very clear that elections are to be governed at the state level. The Founders actually made that decision at the Constitutional Convention. And the only role of the federal government was to open and count the electoral votes that were sent by the states,” Pence continued.

“I understand the disappointment in the election,” he said. “But you’ve got to be willing to do your duty.”

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!

Tags:

Josh Feldman is a Senior Editor at Mediaite. Email him here: josh@mediaite.com Follow him on Twitter: @feldmaniac