Trump Blames Mike Pence For ‘Dead Soldiers’ in Afghanistan in Latest 2020 Election Rant

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Former President Donald Trump had another election-related meltdown on Thursday.

In a statement issued via his Save America political action committee, Trump appeared to blame former Vice President Mike Pence for not trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election and some of the subsequent adverse developments that have since followed.

The former president has long maintained that as the presiding officer over the election’s certification, Pence had the ability to refuse to sign off and instead return the matter to the state legislatures. Trump baselessly claimed the election was rigged against him and was hoping that by delaying certification, Republican state legislatures in states he lost would ultimately recognize Trump “won” those states, overturn the majority vote in those states, and that he would remain president.

The half-baked scheme was cooked up by John Eastman, a lawyer in the Department of Justice, who has since had his home raided by the FBI.

Here’s Trump’s full statement:

Mike Pence told me, and everybody else, there was nothing he could do about the Electoral Vote Count—it was etched in stone. But if so, how come the Democrats and RINOs are working so hard to make sure there is nothing a VP can do. This was a major event, because everybody ganged up and said that Mike had no choice, he could not send the slates back to the States (which is all I suggested he do) for possible retabulation and correction based on largescale Voter Fraud and Irregularities. This may have proven to be an Election-changing event, so we would have no inflation, inexpensive gasoline, be energy dominant, have no war or largescale death with Russia and Ukraine (this conflict never would have happened), would have left Afghanistan on same timetable, but with dignity and strength, and would have kept Bagram Air Base, not had dead soldiers, taken out all American hostages, and would not have given the Taliban $85 billion worth of first-class military equipment. What a difference it would have made if the State Legislatures had another crack at looking at all of the Fraud, Abuse, and Irregularities that have been found. Our Country would have been a different place!

It is unclear what if anything triggered the rant, which comes just hours ahead of a key hearing of the Jan. 6 committee investigating the Capitol riot that ensued after it became clear Pence would certify the election. The process was delayed several hours by a deadly insurrection.

The statement was also issued shortly after the Washington Post published an article indicating that Pence is preparing to run for president in 2024.