Mike Pence delivered his strongest criticism yet of Donald Trump, after his onetime boss and current 2024 rival was indicted for the third time on criminal charges, saying he should never be president again and was a distraction to the country.
“Our country is more important than one man. Our constitution is more important than any one man’s career,” Pence said in a statement Tuesday. “The former president is entitled to the presumption of innocence but with this indictment, his candidacy means more talk about January 6th and more distractions.”
Trump was charged Tuesday in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The former president faces four charges: conspiracy to defraud the US, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against the right to vote and have that vote counted, according to the indictment filed in federal court.
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Pence testified before the grand jury and is a central figure in the 45-page indictment, which details how Trump waged a weeks-long campaign to convince his then vice president to reject the Electoral College votes for President Joe Biden during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol.
Trump tried to use his supporters on Jan. 6 to pressure Pence to “fraudulently alter the election results,” prosecutors alleged. Trump met with Pence on Jan. 5 and told him he would have to publicly criticize him, leading Pence’s chief of staff to alert the head of the vice president’s Secret Service detail, according to the indictment.
A Pence adviser speaking on condition of anonymity noted that the former vice president had played a large role in the indictment, but said his statement and cooperation with the grand jury were in line with his previous comments on Trump.
“On January 6th, Former President Trump demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution. I chose the Constitution and I always will,” Pence said in his statement.
Trump has already been indicted on federal charges over his handling of classified documents and in New York state court over alleged hush money payments to an adult film star. With his third indictment, his criminal cases threaten to burden his campaign with mounting legal costs.
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Pence said he would have more to say about the case against Trump after reviewing the indictment, but he painted the former president’s legal woes as a distraction to Republicans eager to take the White House from Biden in 2024.
Despite the indictments, Trump remains the clear frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination. A New York Times/Siena College poll released Monday showed Trump with 54% support, while Pence is tied for third at 3%.