Former Vice President Mike Pence rejected a claim on Friday from former President Donald Trump that he "had the right to overturn the election."
"This week, our former president said I had the right to ‘overturn the election.' President Trump is wrong," Pence said. "I had no right to overturn the election."
Pence responded to Trump in a speech at a conference hosted by the Federalist Society, an organization for conservative and libertarian lawyers, in Orlando, Florida.
Trump said in a statement on Sunday that Pence had the power to "overturn the election" because he was president of the Senate at the time.
"Actually, what they are saying, is that Mike Pence did have the right to change the outcome, and they now want to take that right away. Unfortunately, he didn’t exercise that power, he could have overturned the Election!" Trump said.
Pence countered Trump and said, "There are those in our party who believe that as the presiding officer over the joint session of Congress that I possess unilateral authority to reject electoral college votes."
He made it clear that Trump's belief was wrong, and he had no power at the time to overturn the election.
"Under the Constitution, I had no right to change the outcome of our election," Pence said. "And Kamala Harris will have no right to over turn the election when we beat them in 2024."
Pence had repeatedly told Trump prior to Jan. 6 and the attacks on the U.S. Capitol that he didn't have the power to overturn the election.
"Whatever the future holds, I know we did our duty that day," Pence said. "John Quincy Adams reminds us: duty is ours, results are God’s. The truth is there’s more at stake than our party or political fortunes. Men and women, if we lose faith in the Constitution, we won’t just lose elections. We’ll lose our country."
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