Former Vice President Mike Pence suggested during an interview Monday evening that national media outlets are placing increased emphasis on the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol as part of an agenda to “distract” from what he described as “failed” policy objectives of President Biden.
“I know the media wants to distract from the Biden administration’s failed agenda by focusing on one day in January,” Pence told Fox News host Sean Hannity.
“They want to use that one day to try and demean the character and intentions of 74 million Americans who believed we could be strong again and prosperous again, and supported our administration in 2016 and 2020,” he added.
Pence, who presided over a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 as it voted to certify Biden’s Electoral College victory over former President Trump, drew the ire of some in the crowd that day after he indicated he would not stand in the way of the certification process despite Trump’s repeated false claims of a “rigged” election.
Some people in the crowd on Jan. 6 reportedly chanted “hang Mike Pence,” as they stormed the Capitol where the vice president and other lawmakers had to be evacuated from the House chamber.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers earlier this year established a congressional commission to investigate the events that led to the Jan. 6 attack, an oversight effort that attracted significant media attention after the House voted to impeached Trump after the insurrection. The Senate voted against convicting Trump.
Pence has since said he was proud of how he and others handled the certification of the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6.
“Now there are those in our party who believe that in my position as presiding officer over the joint session that I possess the authority to reject or return electoral votes certified by the states,” Pence said during a speech this summer. “The Constitution provides the vice president with no such authority before the joint session of Congress.”
The former vice president said on Monday he maintains regular contact with Trump, who was reportedly irate with him after Pence declined to stand in the way of Congress’s certification of the 2020 election result.
“I can tell you that we parted amicably at the end of the administration,” Pence said. “And we’ve talked a number of times since we both left office.”
Pence, who has campaigned and raised money for several Republicans across the country since leaving the Trump administration, is seen as a leading candidate for the 2024 Republican nomination for president if Trump does not run.
“I believe that our entire focus today, should be on the future,” Pence told Hannity. “That’s where I’m focused, and I believe the future is bright.”