Meet the Press: Former Vice President Mike Pence
Interview
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There's almost no idea more unAmerican than the notion that any one person can choose which votes to count for the American presidency.
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Thank you, Chuck.
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Well, first, let me say, Chuck, I'm running for president because I think this country's in a lot of trouble. I think Joe Biden has weakened America at home and abroad. But, frankly, the pattern of the Justice Department during our four years in the White House, and since, has undermined public confidence in equal treatment under the law. And while I welcome the appointment of a special counsel, which is, of course, appropriate and is a minimum where the attorney general has a potential conflict of interest, I'm also comforted by the fact that Congress is going to continue to do its work. I'm confident that House Republicans are going to continue to bring forward the facts in this case. The American people have a right to know whether or not President Biden's family benefited or that he himself benefited when he was serving in the job that I had as vice president of the United States in a financial way from foreign nationals. These are -- these are facts the American people have a right to get to the bottom of. I am hopeful that Special Counsel Weiss will do his job without fear or favor, but -- but I have confidence that Jim Jordan, Congressman Comer, and others will continue to do their job for the American people.
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Right.
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Well, look, I mean, it started in 2016 when James Comer gave Hillary Clinton a pass, right, that no other American would have gotten. But then what we, you know, what we've found out since is the truth about what was going on during the Mueller investigation. You know, I lived through that for two and a half years when we were busy rebuilding our military, cutting taxes, unleashing American energy, securing our border. All the while, we actually had FBI agents that were falsifying documents and pushing a political agenda within the Justice Department. It's one of the reasons why I tell people that if I have the privilege of being president of the United States, we're not just going to have a new attorney general and a new FBI director, Chuck, but I'm going to clean house on the whole top floor of the Justice Department and, and demand that we have men and women who are respected on both sides of the aisle as people of integrity who will apply the rule of law in this country equally to every American.
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No.
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I just heard what was being talked about in the press at the time, Chuck, but I thought it was important. Look, I -- in January of 2017, I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. Under the Constitution, states certify elections. And, while there were irregularities in states, maybe a half a dozen states around the country that changed the rules in the name of Covid, we challenged those in sixty court cases. Once the courts had reviewed those and the states certified them, I wanted to make sure that -- that we were -- we were operating on January 6th in a way that was consistent with the Constitution, consistent with the laws of the country. And, and that's the reason that I sat down with the parliamentarian. I looked through the process. I was determined to hear the objections that Republicans were planning to bring, Chuck, and many did bring. I mean, you remember, Democrats brought objections to electoral college votes in three of the last four elections that Republicans prevailed. There's nothing --
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-- unusual about that --
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So, I did ask the parliamentarian--
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I did ask the parliamentarian very directly, Chuck. I asked her, because I was hearing rumors. I was reading in the newspaper that there were alternate electors. I just -- I asked her point blank --
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-- "Are there any other electors from any state?" And she said there was not. I don't recall that. I just remember hearing it in the public --
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-- and I wanted a definitive answer whether or not the parliamentarian had received any additional electoral votes. She had not. So, as you know, we actually changed the language as those electoral college votes were recorded. But, look, you know, Chuck, I've told you many times. I said it again at the Iowa State Fair. I had no right to overturn the election. The Constitution is quite clear. As vice president, my job was to preside over a joint session of Congress where the Constitution says the electoral college votes shall be opened and shall be counted.
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And I know, by God's grace, I did my duty that day.
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Well, look, you can check his tweets, I think, on the day of, the day before. I mean, the president was quite clear and quite public that he thought that I had the authority to either reject or return votes to the states.
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The Constitution and the laws of this country --
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-- gave us absolutely--
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-- no basis. I do, Chuck. I mean, it's part of -- part of a dialogue that happened between the president and me. And that was related, I think, to a bogus lawsuit that was brought to try and force my hand, to have a federal judge say that I had the right to throw out votes. Look, there's almost no idea more un-American than the idea that any one person could choose which votes to count for president of the United States. The American people know, as I heard from dozens of people at the Iowa State Fair, Chuck, the American people know the presidency belongs to them, to them alone, and no one person has ever had that authority or ever should under our system.
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Well, Chuck, I don't remember saying anybody was leading it. I remember saying there was a group of crackpot lawyers that the chief of staff allowed to be in the Oval Office that, frankly, should have never been allowed on the grounds.
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Literally, you had --
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-- the president of the United States.
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Well, that's exactly what I just said, Chuck. I'm happy to repeat it. Look, the chief of staff's supposed to be a gatekeeper. You're supposed to make sure the people that are getting into the Oval Office have the credibility to be there. And, frankly, this -- this group of lawyers that were allowed to counsel the president and tell him what his itching ears longed to hear is that I had some right to reject votes or return votes to the states, there was no basis in that in history. But, you know, look, Chuck, you know, I think our Constitution is more important than any one man or any one man's career, including mine. I took the stand I took that day because of that oath that I took. And I couldn't be more encouraged, Chuck, as, as one person after another, not just in Iowa this last week, but in New Hampshire the week before, more and more Americans are coming up to me and expressing their appreciation for the stand they took. They know I chose, I chose to keep my oath to the Constitution that day. And if I'm president of the United States, I always will.
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Well, Chuck, what I've said is I'm happy to meet the criteria for the upcoming Republican presidential debates. I'm incredibly proud that more than 40,000 Americans in just nine weeks have supported our campaign, made it possible for us to quality for the debate stage. And, in fact, Chuck, I think I'm actually going to qualify for the second debate before we get to the first one, because --
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-- more Americans are seeing that my consistent conservative record, my years as vice president, my years as a governor here in Indiana, my years as a House conservative leader for 12 years are really just what the nation needs.
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This is no time for on-the-job training.
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This is no time for distractions. We need leadership on day one --
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-- that'll be able to provide the team and the vision --
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-- to turn this country around, and I can.
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I'm -- I'm incredibly proud of what we did in the Trump-Pence administration for four years, and you'd better believe it. In those four years, after eight years of the slowest recovery since the Great Depression, eight years under Barack Obama and Joe Biden that saw military cuts that hollowed out our military, eight years of liberals on our courts, under the Trump-Pence administration, with the support of MAGA Americans, we literally did make America great again --
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-- before that pandemic struck.
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Look, look, I'm a Christian, a conservative and a Republican in that order. I've always said that. People who know me know those are my values. Those are my ideals. And I really believe that the agenda that I've always been about, that I'm looking forward to taking to that debate stage, is the agenda that will bring this country all the way back.
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I did.
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Yes.
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Well, look, gasoline prices jumped back up this week. Remember $2 a gallon, Chuck? I sure do. That happened under our administration. We unleashed American energy. It was an "all of the above" energy strategy. We achieved American energy independence in three short years. Joe Biden launched a war on energy on day one, and he shut down the Keystone and Dakota pipelines. Energy prices, gas prices are still up 60%. Electricity prices are up 25%. We laid out a vision following on my plan to tackle inflation.
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We laid out a vision this last week not just to achieve energy independence. It's one of the things your colleagues over at the Wall Street Journal neglected to mention. I also believe not only can we achieve American energy independence again, but I believe with the right policies going forward, we can reclaim our role as the leading producer of energy in the world -
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-- by 2040. It'll take leadership. It'll take --
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-- a commitment to American energy independence. And on day one of a presidency that I'd be privileged to serve in, we'll fight to restore that American energy strength, and leadership, and dominance in the world.
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Thanks so much. And, Chuck, I appreciate you having me on.
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