Vice President Mike Pence, 62, running for the GOP’s 2024 presidential nomination, said today that former President Donald Trump never told him that he lost the 2020 election. Special Counsel Jack Smith, charged Trump with defrauding the government and obstructing the 2020 Electoral College vote certification, in wild charges not likely to stick in any court. Smith’s charges assume facts that are not in evidence, especially the idea that Trump knew he lost but continued spreading lies about the election, namely, that he won the election, without offering proof of voter fraud. Former Atty. Gen. Bill Barr, 72, told Trump before he resigned Dec. 20, 2010, that he saw no proof of widespread voter fraud, spending months attacking Trump as deceiving the public. Pence reveals today the central fallacy of Smith’s charges that Trump knew he lost and continued to lie that he won.
Smith has zero proof that Trump was not telling the truth insisting that he won the 2020 election but somehow was defrauded by Democrat election officials. Fulton County DA Fani Willis meets with her grand jury next week to file more charges against Trump for election interference. Willis has only a phone conversation between Secretary of State Brad Rafensperger and Trump where Trump apparently asked Rafensperger to find some 11,000 votes. Trump says he only wanted votes that were legitimately his, not something illegal. Willis has no chance of convincing a jury that Trump actually pressured Rafensperger to find illegitimate votes. All charges and those pending against Trump look politically motivated, not something that would pass any legal test. No jury is going to convict Trump based on partisan interpretations of facts related to the 2020 presidential election.
Pence’s admission today throws cold water on Smith’s case against Trump, all requiring evidence that Trump knew he lost the election but continued to push his voter fraud theory. When it comes to any of his past lawyers, former law professor John Eastman, now under the gun in California by the state bar, Eastman said it was impossible to rule out election fraud because of universal mail-in ballots. No court or election expert address the effect of universal mail-in ballots on the 2020 election. Never before in U.S. history, had voters been sent universal mail-in ballots where Democrats clearly had a registration advantage. So when it comes to Smith proving that Trump knew he lost the election, he’s got an uphill battle, especially with Pence now saying Trump never conceded he lost the election. Smith assumes facts that are not in evidence, struggling to make his case.
Pence took a shot Hunter Biden at the Iowa State Faire, saying while Hunter was doing drugs and landing lucrative deals, his son was flying F-35 fighter jets defending his country in the Marines. “When I was Vice President, my son was flying an F-35 for the Marines Corps, defending this country. I think it’s about time that we saw the appointment of a special counsel to get to the bottom of not only what Hunter Biden was doing but what the Biden family was doing,” Pence said. Democrats and the media have done just about everything to shield Joe from any involvement in Hunter’s overseas business dealings. Pence knows that Biden has denied knowing anything of Hunter’s overseas business deals, despite Hunter’s admission that he wouldn’t have gotten the Burisma job without his father. Joe was heading Obama’s Ukraine anti-corruption task force when he landed Hunter and Archer jobs or Burisma’s board.
Pence got a lot of mileage from the liberal press about his role on Jan. 6, 2021, presiding over the Electoral College vote certification. Pence told many liberal new outlets that he stood up to Trump on Jan. 6, telling him he didn’t have the lauthority to question the Electoral College vote. “It’s not about the truth, it’s about the facts—it’s about the people that feel concerned,” said Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) “It’s gone from a distraction to Oh, wow, maybe some is there,” referring to a link between Hunter’s deals and Joe Biden. Former DNC Chairwoma Donna Brazile disagreed. “I have not gotten one call about this other that from reporters.” Brazile said about any voter concerns about Hunter’s ties to his father. Most voters think if Biden beat Trump in 2020, it’s going to be easier now to repeat the feat since Trump is under the legal gun, should he win the GOP nomination.
Pence has thrown a monkey wrench into Smith’s plans to charge Trump with defrauding the U.S. government, saying he won the election while actually telling folks he actually admitting he lost. Pence said Trump never told him he lost the election, holding a firm set of beliefs that he won the election. Trump’s attorneys told him that universal mail-in ballots prevent them from determining the extent of voter fraud because mail-in ballots could not be authenticated. Smith has become an overly zealous federal prosecutor thinking that he could prove that Trump knew he lost but refused to admit it to the public. If Comer finds a link between Hunter’s overseas business deals and Joe Biden, it’s not something Democrats and press will be able to ignore. “I just don’t see the source of anxiety that this might have cause a few years go,” said Rep. Gary Connolly (D-Va.), thinking Hunter Biden is old news.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
