Then-president Donald Trump reportedly admonished then-Vice President Mike Pence during a tense White House meeting for resisting Trump’s plot to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, saying he is “too honest” to be his vice president and that he will be remembered as a “wimp,” according to an excerpt of Pence’s new book “So Help Me God” published in The Wall Street Journal.
“On Saturday, Jan. 2 [2021], I instructed my chief of staff to issue a statement supporting the right of lawmakers to bring objections under the Electoral Count Act. By Sunday morning, the headline ‘Pence Welcomes Congressional Republicans’ Bid to Challenge Electoral Votes’ was everywhere,” Pence wrote in the excerpt of his book. “When the president called me that morning, his mood had brightened.”
“‘You have gone from very unpopular to popular!’ [Trump] exclaimed. But then he pressed me again to reject electoral votes unilaterally. ‘You can be a historic figure,’ he said, ‘but if you wimp out, you’re just another somebody.’”
Pence writes that Trump and some supporters had urged him to use his role in Congress’s election certification process to block electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021, adding that he resisted Trump’s pressure and raised concerns that he didn’t possess power under the Constitution that would enable him to reject the 2020 electoral votes.
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“‘You’re too honest,’ [Trump] chided. ‘Hundreds of thousands of people are gonna hate your guts… People are gonna think you’re stupid,’” Pence wrote in his memoir.
“The president laid into me. ‘You’ll go down as a wimp,’ he said. ‘If you do that, I made a big mistake five years ago!’ ” Pence added.
Pence ultimately went through with the certification after the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The former Vice President’s memoir is slated for release next Tuesday — the same day Trump is set to give an announcement from Mar-a-Lago in Florida, during which he’s widely expected to announce a 2024 presidential bid.
