‘Monumental’: CNN Host Praises Pence For Finally Denouncing Trump’s Pressure to Overturn the Election
Vice President Mike Pence publicly broke with his former boss Donald Trump on Friday, giving a speech at the Federalist Society that was called “monumental,” “enormous,” and “remarkable” by CNN hosts who weighed in to discuss its ramifications.
“There are those in our party who believe that as the presiding officer over the joint session of Congress that I possess the unilateral authority to reject electoral college votes,” Pence said. “I heard this week that President Trump said I had the right to overturn the election. President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election.”
Pence continued:
The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone. Frankly, there’s no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person can choose the American president. I had no right to change the outcome of our election. Kamala Harris will have no right to overturn the election when we beat them in 2024.
Look, I understand the disappointment many feel about the last election. I was on the ballot. Whatever the future holds, I know we did our duty that day. John Quincy Adams reminds us ‘duty is ours, results are Gods.’ And the truth is there’s more at stake than our party or political fortunes. Men and women if we lose faith in our constitution, we won’t just lose elections, we’ll lose our country.
“Well, that was monumental,” Alisyn Camerota said.
“The former vice president saying something we have not heard him say before. President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election,” said Victor Blackwell.
Gloria Borger, CNN’s chief political analyst, then called Pence’s speech “remarkable.”
“It’s enormous,” she said. “This is the first time we have heard the former vice president say directly that his former boss, whom he supported for his entire term, say the president is wrong.”
“He used Justice Scalia and said our elections are run by the state, not by the Congress. It was remarkable,” Borger continued.
“It was a more receptive audience at the Federalist Society than among some in the Republican base. I think is a rift with Donald Trump. It’s now broken. It’s not going to be repaired,” she continued, discussing the dynamic between Trump and Pence.
Borger went, on noting that Pence’s speech raises some interesting questions about his own future in the GOP:
He has decided to go his own way and the question I have really is whether it means he’s actually going to run or whether it means he’s decided not to run and doesn’t really have that concern as much about the Republican base. We’ll just have to see how it plays out. It’s remarkable.
It’s the first time, the first time we have really heard the former vice president say anything more than we don’t see eye the eye on that day.
Borger concluded by commenting that Pence effectively just took the same stance as Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger have taken, noting that they were both censured by the Republican Party today for breaking with Trump.
Watch the full clip above via CNN
