Pence trashes Trump as ‘wrong then and wrong now’ on alleged attempts to overthrow 2020 election

Former Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday trashed his former boss Donald Trump for allegedly attempting to overthrow the 2020 election — and defended his actions in blocking the ex-president from doing so.

“What I want the American people to know is that President Trump was wrong then and wrong now. I had no right to overturn the election,” Pence said on CNN’s “State of the Union” while stumping in New Hampshire.

“By God’s grace, I did my duty under the constitution of the United States and I always will.”

Pence, along with Congress, certified the election of President Biden as the winner of the 2020 election — over Trump’s objections.

The former VP’s criticism of Trump Sunday parrots statements he made last week after Trump, 77, was indicted on four counts over his alleged efforts to cling to power and overturn the 2020 presidential race.

Prosecutors allege Trump unlawfully supported a scheme to put forward fraudulent electors and pressured Pence and various state officials to reject Biden’s victory. The ex-president said Pence was “too honest,” according to the indictment.

“Today’s indictment serves as an important reminder: anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States,” Pence tweeted Tuesday.

Trump has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty in Washington, DC federal court on Thursday.

Pence on Sunday said he couldn’t recall Trump ever admitting he had lost the election.

“I do know what he and his lawyers asked me to do and it’s what no vice president in American history had ever done before and frankly no vice president or any one person in Washington should do … The presidency belongs to the American people,” Pence said.

“Our founders never vested authority in one person to overturn elections and I stood on that principle.”

Pence said he doesn’t plan on testifying at Trump’s trial, but noted he testified to the grand jury under subpoena and will comply with whatever the law says.

Trump’s lawyer in the 2020 election case, John Lauro, contended that testimony from Pence could exonerate his onetime boss.

“Mike Pence will be one of our best witnesses at trial,” Lauro told ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday. “I read his book very carefully, and if he testifies consistent with his book, then President Trump will be acquitted.”

Pence, in the CNN interview, refused to say if he would support Trump should the ex-president win the 2024 Republican nomination — dancing around the question by saying he didn’t expect him to be the GOP’s standard bearer. 

“It’s awfully early here,” he said. “I don’t think we have to make that decision. I’m confident I will be able to support the Republican nominee, especially if it’s me.”

Pence — Trump’s No. 2 for four years — insisted that Republican primary voters will “choose new leadership for a new time,” though polls show the former president as the clear frontrunner for the nomination.

“We simply have got to move our country forward,” Pence said.

Trump slammed Pence on Saturday as a loser who’s gone to the “dark side” in a Truth Social post.

“WOW, it’s finally happened! Liddle’ Mike Pence, a man who was about to be ousted as Governor Indiana until I came along and made him V.P., has gone to the Dark Side,” Trump wrote.

“I never told a newly emboldened (not based on his 2% poll numbers!) Pence to put me above the Constitution, or that Mike was ‘too honest,’” the former president added. “He’s delusional, and now he wants to show he’s a tough guy.”

Trump supporters heckled Pence as a “traitor” and “sell out” during the former VP’s campaign stop in New Hampshire Friday.

Additional reporting by Ryan King