WASHINGTON – Republican Rep. Michael McCaul said Sunday that former Vice President Mike Pence “avoided a major constitutional crisis” with his actions. January 6, 2021and reverberated Pence’s comments The 2020 presidential election was rife with voter fraud, with former President Donald Trump condemned for making false claims.
“Vice President Pence exercised ethical integrity and judgment that day by carrying out his constitutional duties, authenticating the votes and counting them,” McCall said in an interview with “Face the Nation.” “He averted a major constitutional crisis that day.”
McCaul, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also said he agreed with Pence’s comments Saturday night that he criticized Trump for repeatedly pressuring his former vice president to unilaterally overturn the results of the presidential election during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6. 2021.
“It was a dark, dark day, and I think history will judge everyone by what they did that day,” he said.
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Pence offered sharp criticism of Trump about the events surrounding Jan. 6 during remarks at the annual gridiron dinner Saturday night, during which he said Trump was “wrong” for his actions after losing to President Joe Biden. Until the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, Trump had been pressing his vice president to unilaterally overturn the results of the election by tossing out or delaying the counting of state Electoral College votes.
“I had no right to overturn the election, and his reckless words endangered my family and everyone in the Capitol that day, and I know history will hold Donald Trump accountable for his actions,” Pence told a crowd of politicians and reporters in white. – Dinner tie.
Pence also pushed back against depictions of the Jan. 6 riots from some conservative television personalities — though not by name — who downplayed the attack and tried to recast it as peaceful.
“It was not, as some would have you believe, tourists visiting the Capitol,” Pence said. “Tourists don’t injure 140 police officers by traveling. Tourists don’t break down doors to get to the Speaker of the House.”
The former vice president’s comments were in reference to Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s broadcast on Monday, during which he aired selected surveillance and police footage from the Capitol on Jan. 6 and claimed it was “mostly peaceful chaos” inside the Capitol. Carlson equated the protesters who breached the Capitol on Jan. 6 to “spectaculars.”
Carlson gained access to nearly 41,000 hours of footage from the Capitol through a deal with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. CBS News is part of a group of media companies Access claims In the video tranche of the attack.
McCarthy said he plans to make the footage available to everyone in the future, and McCall said Sunday that he had received assurances from the speaker that the video would be released to all media.
“The American people deserve to see all the footage from that day,” the Texas Republican said. “All the footage, you know, is not going to be tourism at the Capitol. It’s going to show a very dark, sad day that I’ve witnessed myself, including the assault on our Capitol Police, 140 of them injured, two pipe bombs, the killing of a Capitol Police officer. did, and killed a protester. It’s not a good day.”