As investigations into whether former President Donald Trump made efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election intensify, Vice President Mike Pence said on Sunday he spoke with then-Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and other state governors, but denied his former boss urged him to pressure anyone.
What You Need To Know
- The Washington Post reported on Saturday that former President Donald Trump called Gov. Doug Ducey in late 2020 and tried to get him to reverse the results for the state that voted for Joe Biden
- When Ducey did not relent, Trump had Pence call him several times, though the vice president did not pressure the governor to take any action, the Post reported
- On Sunday, Pence confirmed he spoke with Ducey at the time, but said he did not recall any pressure on the Republican or any other governos
- Arizona in particular became a hot spot of conspiracies and ire at election officials by Trump supporters and allies
The Washington Post reported on Saturday that Trump called Ducey in late 2020 and tried to get him to reverse the results for the state that voted for Joe Biden. When Ducey did not relent, Trump had Pence call him several times, though the vice president did not pressure the governor to take any action, the Post reported.
On Sunday, Pence confirmed he spoke with Ducey at the time.
“I did check with not only Gov. Ducey, but other governors and states that were going through the legal process of reviewing their election results, but there was no pressure,” Pence said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” “I was calling to get an update and I passed along that information to the president and it was no more, no less than that.”
“I don’t remember any pressure,” Pence added when asked if Trump pushed him to get Ducey to act.
Ultimately, baseless claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol as both houses of Congress met to certify its results. Pence oversaw those proceedings and his wife and children were in the Capitol that day as rioters chanted ‘hang Mike Pence’ and forced him to temporarily flee the House floor.
“The president and I, things came to a head at the end,” Pence said. “'l’ll always believe that by God's grace, I did my duty under the Constitution that day and presiding over a joint session of Congress in the aftermath of the mayhem and the rioting.”
But before the end and before Pence launched his campaign for the GOP nomination for president in 2024, he was supportive of the legal challenges and political campaign by his old boss to overturn the results of elections in states across the country on false claims of fraud and illegal votes.
“In the days of November, in December, this was an orderly process. You'll remember there were more than 60 lawsuits underway,” Pence said. “States were engaging in appropriate reviews and that these contacts were no more than that.”
Claims of election fraud, faulty vote counts and other nefarious schemes have continuously been proven false since the 2020 election and rejected by federal and state judges dozens of times, according to a database maintained by Ohio State University.
Arizona in particular became a hot spot of conspiracies and ire at election officials by Trump supporters and allies.
Publicly, Trump took to Twitter in late November and early December to accuse the Republican governor of working with Democrats to cover up voter fraud and keep him out of office, according to an archive of his tweets.
“Why is he rushing to put a Democrat in office, especially when so many horrible things concerning voter fraud are being revealed at the hearing going on right now,” Trump tweeted on Nov. 30, 2020. “What is going on with @dougducey? Republicans will long remember!”
Trump and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, also called Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a Republican, in late 2020 and asked him to bring the state legislature together to look into unsubstantiated voter fraud claims and select new electors to be sent to D.C. to vote for Trump during the ratification of the electoral college result, Bowers testified to Congress last year.
“He said, ‘well, we have heard by an official high up in the Republican legislature that there is a legal theory or a legal ability in Arizona that you can remove the electors of President Biden and replace them,’” Bowers told the House’s Jan. 6 committee. “I said, ‘look, you are asking me to do something that is counter to my oath when I swore to the Constitution to uphold it, and I also swore to the Constitution and the laws of the state of Arizona.’”
Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., later called Bowers on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021 and urged him to sign a letter that would support the decertification of the electors from Arizona. Bowers did not.
Elsewhere, Trump and his allies turned to Republican officials and lawmakers in key states to assist in the process of overturning the 2020 election.
Four days before the Jan. 6 attack, Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, and told him “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state,” according to a recording of the call. Trump lost Georgia by 11,779 votes.
Trump is currently under investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over his efforts in Georgia. Special prosecutor Jack Smith, who charged Trump in the classified documents case, is also looking into the former president’s actions in a federal investigation.
Raffensperger, who supported Trump during the election, later wrote in his book he felt threatened by the president and that “some of Trump’s more radical followers have responded as if it was their duty to carry out this threat.” He wrote his wife received death threats and that he had to be evacuated from Georgia’s capitol on Jan. 6, fleeing right-wing protestors there — some of whom were armed — as their compatriots stormed the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
“Look, ultimately, I win, okay? Because you guys are so wrong. And you treated this, you treated the population of Georgia so badly,” Trump said on the call. “The people are so angry in Georgia.”