Trump said Pence is a "really fine person" but he hasn't "spoken to him in a long time." Both are rumored 2024 presidential candidates.
Leah Millis/Reuters
If former President Donald Trump launches a presidential campaign in 2024, he won't be choosing former Vice President Mike Pence as his running mate, he told the Washington Examiner in a new interview published on Wednesday.
"I don't think the people would accept it," Trump said, citing the pair's fractured relationship in the aftermath of the 2020 election and the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
Trump and his legal team, who had fought to challenge the 2020 election results, pressured Pence to overturn the Electoral College votes on January 6 as Congress met to certify Joe Biden's win.
Pence resisted the pressure. He argued that as vice president, his constitutional duty was to preside over the electoral certification and he had no power to throw out the votes.
"I was disappointed in Mike," Trump told the Washington Examiner.
Once close allies, Trump and Pence have distanced themselves from each other since leaving office. Trump has teased a 2024 presidential run but has stopped short of a formal announcement. Pence is also among a group of rumored 2024 presidential candidates.
Trump told the Washington Examiner that Pence is a "really fine person" but the two are not on speaking terms.
"Mike and I had a great relationship except for the very important factor that took place at the end. We had a very good relationship," Trump said. "I haven't spoken to him in a long time."
It's been more than a year since Trump left the White House and he still claims that the 2020 election was rigged against him because of widespread voter fraud. This, despite federal, state, and local officials repeatedly saying that the election was fair and accurate.
A group of bipartisan lawmakers have been in talks to prevent a future January 6-style election challenge by reforming the Electoral Count Act, an 1887 federal law that governs how Congress counts presidential electors and resolves disputes over presidential election results in the Electoral College. The lawmakers aim to revamp the 135-year-old law by clarifying some of its confusing provisions and warding off attempts to overturn election results.
Trump in his interview claimed that those discussions are evidence that Pence had the authority to challenge the election.
"They are feverishly working to try and get it so that the vice president cannot do what Mike said he couldn't do," Trump said. "Obviously, they were either lying, misrepresenting, or they didn't know."
