Raskin to Vance: ‘They tried to kill your predecessor’

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), the Republican vice presidential nominee, that GOP voters “tried to kill your predecessor,” during remarks at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

“Remember what the mob chanted as they stormed the Capitol and injured our officers? ‘Hang Mike Pence,’” Raskin said during his speech Monday night, referring to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

“Someone should have told Donald Trump that the president’s job under Article 2 of the Constitution is to take care that the laws are faithfully executed, not that the vice president is executed,” he added.

Raskin, who served on the Jan. 6 select committee investigating the Capitol attack, frequently draws on his background as a constitutional law professor in warning about the threat to democracy he says America faces if the former president wins back the White House.

The Maryland Democrat noted that former Vice President Pence — who was the target of many rioters during the insurrection as they looked to him as a last resort in preventing the transfer of power to President Biden — has joined other former Trump administration officials who have publicly said they would not support his return to office.

“Pence has now joined more than two dozen officials from Donald Trump’s own administration in denouncing him, an historical record, and Pence is the first vice president in more than two centuries not to support the president he served with in a general election,” Raskin said.

“And by the way, JD Vance, do you understand why there was a sudden job opening for running mate on the GOP ticket? They tried to kill your predecessor,” he continued. “They tried to kill him because he would not follow Trump’s plan to destroy and nullify the votes of millions of Americans.”

The Trump campaign fired back at Raskin’s remarks in a statement to The Hill.

“Jamie Raskin is a disgusting piece of trash who has such a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, he is willing to politicize talking about assassinations just one month after an attempt was made of President Trump’s life. These are the people Democrats are highlighting at their convention,” the spokesperson said.