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Former VP Mike Pence: Trump 'wrong' on overturning election

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence presides over a joint session of Congress to count the Electoral College votes from the 2020 presidential election on January 6, 2021. Pence said Friday that former President Donald Trump was "wrong" to suggest he could overturn the results of the election. File Photo by Saul Loeb/UPI
1 of 4 | U.S. Vice President Mike Pence presides over a joint session of Congress to count the Electoral College votes from the 2020 presidential election on January 6, 2021. Pence said Friday that former President Donald Trump was "wrong" to suggest he could overturn the results of the election. File Photo by Saul Loeb/UPI | License Photo

Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Former Vice President Mike Pence criticized former President Donald Trump on Friday, saying he was "wrong" for suggesting he overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Pence gave the unusually sharp rebuke of Trump during a speech before the Federalist Society during an event in Orlando, Fla. He addressed the attack at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in which Trump supporters sought to disrupt Congress' certification of the Electoral College votes that made Joe Biden President.

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Trump on Sunday reiterated his claims that the election was fraudulent and Pence could've changed the vote in his favor during the certification process.

"There are those in our party who believe that as the presiding officer over the joint session of Congress, I possessed unilateral authority to reject Electoral College votes. And I heard this week that President Trump said I had the right to 'overturn the election,'" Pence said Friday.

"President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone. Frankly, there is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.

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"Look, I understand the disappointment many feel about the last election. I was on the ballot," Pence added. "But whatever the future holds, I know we did our duty that day."

Pence was inside the Capitol on Jan. 6 when Trump's supporters attacked the building, some chanting violence against the vice president. Earlier in the day, Pence had declined to intervene in the electoral vote certification process.

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