Former Vice President Mike Pence doesn’t think Donald Trump should be impeached for his January 6 activities, and appears to be basing his reasoning, in part, on bad Christmas movie scripts and not actual legal theory.
The House committee investigating the insurrection will make its final public presentation Monday on Trump’s unprecedented effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
But Pence told Fox News on Monday that he hopes the Justice Department will not indict his former boss for his role in inciting the riot on Capitol Hill for what he says is a “partisan taint.”
“Congress has no formal role in Justice Department decisions, so they can make recommendations today,” Pence said. “But when it comes to the Justice Department’s decision to bring charges in the future, I hope they don’t bring charges against the former president.”
Pence then suggested that Trump’s only “crime” was choosing bad lawyers.
“The President’s actions and words on January 6 were reckless, but I don’t know if it’s criminal to take bad advice from lawyers,” Pence said.
Pence then tried to suggest that the DOJ shouldn’t be Grinching by following pesky rule of law when it’s Christmas after all, before deciding to impeach Trump.
“I think that would be terribly divisive in the country at a time when the American people want to see us heal,” Pence said. “This time of year, we are all thinking about the most important things in our lives: our faith, our family. And my hope is that the Department of Justice will think very carefully before proceeding.”
You can watch the exchange below.
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Many Twitter users were unimpressed by Pence’s comments, including two former Republican congressmen.
I have those talking points down to a science. Quite a leap from “Bad Lawyer Advice” to “Hang Mike Pence.”
Pence has spent much of his time trying to appeal to Trump’s MAGA base while also trying to make his own mark as a viable Republican candidate.
In the process, he has gone to extremes, from demanding Trump apologize for hosting white supremacist organizer Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago to avoiding a direct answer after being asked if he still believes the former president was a “good man”. admit that voters have a better choice than to re-elect their old boss.
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