Former President Donald Trump and the other 18 people indicted earlier this week for alleged attempts to overturn Georgia's 2020 presidential election results "are entitled to the presumption of innocence that every American enjoys," former Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday, Axios reported.
However, Pence also criticized Trump by telling a crowd of some 250 Republican lawmakers at the National Conference of State Legislatures that "despite what the former president and his allies have said ... the Georgia election was not stolen," adding that "I had no right to overturn the election."
Pence, who is running against Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, is considered a main witness in the Georgia case, especially concerning Trump pressuring his then-vice president from performing the ceremonial role of certifying the election victory by President Joe Biden.
Pence told CBS News' "Face The Nation" this month that he has "no plans to testify" in the case, but he will "obey the law" and "respond to the call of the law, if it comes."
Pence also told CBS: "I'm running for president in part because, frankly, President Trump asked me to put him over the Constitution that day, but I chose the Constitution and I always will."
Trump is charged with 13 counts, including soliciting then-Georgia House Speaker David Ralston and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to break their oaths of office concerning overturning the election, according to Axios.
In his speech on Wednesday, Pence also thanked Wisconsin House Speaker Robin Vos, president of the National Conference of State Legislatures, who withstood harsh criticism from Trump that he had not sought to decertify the 2020 election.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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