Violence on Jan. 6 was Mike Pence’s fault, Trump claims

Donald Trump and his former Vice President Mike Pence had a blame game on January 6, with the former president saying it was actually his second-in-command who caused the chaos that day.

“If he had returned the votes to the legislatures, they wouldn’t have had a problem with January 6th, so in many ways you can blame him for January 6th,” the former president said, referring to Pence refusing his calls not to. do it. certify the results of the electoral college in Congress.

If I had sent them back to Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, the states, I think, number one, they would have had a different outcome. But I also think you wouldn’t have had “January 6th,” as we call it,” he told reporters in Davenport, Iowa.

Over the weekend, Pence directly blamed Trump for the Capitol Hill riot in remarks at the Gridiron dinner in Washington, DC.

“President Trump was wrong,” Pence said. ‘He had no right to annul the election. And his reckless words put my family and everyone on Capitol Hill in danger that day, and I know history will hold Donald Trump to account.”

“History will hold Donald Trump accountable for January 6,” Pence told the crowd of his former boss.

Pence is believed to be poised to jump into the 2024 presidential race and Trump is moving full steam ahead with a third race for the top job, campaigning in Iowa on Monday night.

Trump mused that Pence’s attack on him was prompted by his single-digit poll results for a hypothetical matchup of the Republican Party’s presidential candidates.

Pence also criticized those who downplayed January 6 in an apparent jab at Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, who obtained archival security footage of President Kevin McCarthy and aired non-violent moments inside the Capitol during his show.

“Make no mistake about it, what happened that day was a disgrace,” Pence said. And it is a mockery of decency to portray him otherwise.

He also praised the media for reporting on January 6.

“We were able to stay at our post, in part, because you stayed at your post,” he told reporters covering the insurrection. “The American people know what happened that day because you never stopped reporting.”

After speaking with Washington experts and the media over the weekend, Pence will campaign in New Hampshire on Thursday and Iowa on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the White House has demanded an apology from Pence after he mocked the Transportation Department. Pete Buttigieg for going on ‘maternity’ leave.

Chasten Buttigieg, Pete’s husband, shared a photo of Pete holding their premature baby.

‘An honest question for you @Mike_Pence after your attempted prank this weekend. If his grandchild were born prematurely and was placed on a ventilator at two months old, with her tiny fingers wrapped around his while the monitors beeped in the background, where would you be? Chasten wrote on Twitter along with the photo.

Over the weekend, Pence told the annual Gridiron dinner in Washington that Buttigieg, who is gay, took “maternity leave” while Americans suffered from airline troubles in 2021. At the time, Buttigieg’s adoptive twins they had been born prematurely and suffered from health problems. .

Buttigieg and her husband Chasten welcomed twins Joseph August (called Gus) and Penelope Rose in August 2021.

Several Republicans mocked the transportation secretary for taking at least three months of paid leave as President Joe Biden tried to pass his infrastructure bill on Capitol Hill. At the same time, US seaports were experiencing severe bottlenecks due to supply chain issues.

“Pete is the only person in human history to have had a child, and everyone else has postpartum depression,” Pence joked at dinner.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre criticized the comment and demanded an apology.

“The former vice president’s homophobic joke about Secretary Buttigieg was offensive and inappropriate, all the more so because he treated women suffering from postpartum depression as a joke,” he said in a statement. “He should apologize to women and LGBTQ people, who have a right to be treated with dignity and respect.”

The Gridiron Dinner attracts hundreds of journalists and politicians each year and features skits and comedic speeches from renowned guests. It also drew derision from Democrats, including State Sec. Antony Blinken and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.

Pence’s former chief of staff, Marc Short, derided criticism of the comments as “false outrage.”

“The hypocrisy is especially rich considering that his own Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, joked that he longed for the ‘old days’ when ‘the Jews did all the work,’” Short said.

“The White House would do well to focus less on placating the police and more on bank failures, plane near-misses, train derailments and the ongoing supply chain crisis.”