Former Vice President Mike Pence is urging Republicans to pick a presidential candidate who isn't his former boss, Donald Trump.
Despite polling data showing Trump as the overwhelming favorite for the GOP nomination for presidency, Pence is hoping "good Republican voters" get behind a different candidate and "give our party a fresh start and give us new leadership to lead our party forward in the election and beyond."
"I'm hoping [the voters] will look at this moment and recognize that elections are about the future, and we need new leadership in the Republican party," Pence said Sunday on CNN. "We certainly need new leadership in the White House to move us forward."
Pence is making the plea after tearing down Trump's assertion that the January 6th, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol was "peaceful" and the work of "patriots."
"The truth is that this was a riot that should never have happened," Pence said. "As I've said many times before, the former president's words that day were reckless. I believe history will judge his role in that."
During the attack, Pence was presiding over a joint session of Congress to certify the election results on Jan. 6 when a group of Trump supporters, driven by the lie that the election was stolen, stormed the Capitol building -- with some in the mob chanting, "Hang Mike Pence."
"To see people literally breaking windows, ransacking the Capitol, it just infuriated me. I remember thinking 'Not this, not here, not at the United States Capitol,'" he said.
At a rally Friday in Sioux Center, Iowa, Trump made claims that the FBI and Antifa were actually "leading the charge" on Jan. 6. A recent Washington Post poll shows a third of Republicans believe Trump's claim that the FBI instigated the attack.
To those who believe such falsehoods, Pence says, "They simply need to look to the facts that the Capitol Hill Police endured great hardship and great harm."
"I've heard the many repeated assurances from the FBI that they were not involved and I take them at their word," Pence added.
Although Pence isn't endorsing a Republican candidate, he says he thinks "very highly" of Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis – and adds Chris Christie has been his friend for "years."
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