Pence – Trump's vice president and a former governor of Indiana – hasn't officially declared his candidacy for president in 2024, but he appears to be laying the groundwork to run. Over the weekend, the former VP (pictured above) discussed the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol as he spoke at the annual Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, DC, hosted by journalists and attended by politicians:
Pence: "President Trump was wrong. I had no right to overturn the [November 2020] election. And his reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day, and I know history will hold Donald Trump accountable."
Micah Clark, executive director of the American Family Association of Indiana, says Pence's comments about being in danger that day come across as disingenuous.
"Because, as anyone knows, the vice president or a senator or a congressman – but particularly the vice president – has armed guards around them [and] they have armed security everywhere in the Capitol," Clark tells AFN.
"And the people who were demonstrating on January 6 were not armed. There weren't any guns found," he adds. "The only person who was shot that day was [Ashli Babbitt], an innocent U.S. Army veteran."
Clark also challenges Pence's claims about the 2020 election, saying "clearly something was going on" with the election results.
"It's too coincidental that you have people like Joe Biden and others who win just barely in all the right districts at just the right time when that voting looks kind of suspect," he offers. "It's just not about getting out the vote [and] it's not just about early voting. There are strange things going on."
The conservative activist points out Biden the candidate couldn't draw the size crowds that Trump did; and argues Biden the president has been "terrible" in office.
"Nobody likes him," Clark concludes, "and we're supposed to believe he got 81 million votes?"
