‘He told the truth by accident’: Chris Christie says Trump admitted he lost the election and wanted it overturned when he slammed Pence for his January 6 criticism of ex-president
- Former New Jersey GOP Governor Chris Christie said Sunday that Trump ‘accidentally’ admitted that the 2020 election was actually legitimate
- Trump claimed last week for the first time that Mike Pence had the power to ‘overturn’ the results instead of just claiming the outcome was rigged
- Christie says he is now doing ‘clean up on aisle one’ to walk back his comments
Chris Christie said Sunday that Donald Trump inadvertently admitted that he lost the 2020 election and wanted Mike Pence to unconstitutionally overturn it.
‘He actually told the truth by accident,’ the former New Jersey governor said during a panel on ABC’s This Week program. ‘He wanted the election to be overturned.’
While Trump has repeatedly said that the election was ‘rigged’ and Joe Biden‘s win is due to massive fraud, the former president’s recent comments admitting he wanted Pence to overturn the election pulled the curtain back to suggest he actually thinks the results were legitimate.
‘Let’s face it. Let’s call it what it is. Jan. 6 was a riot that was incited by Donald Trump in an effort to intimidate Mike Pence and the Congress into doing exactly what he said in his own words last week: Overturn the election,’ Christie explained.
Trump said in a statement last week: ‘Unfortunately, he [Pence] didn’t exercise that power, he could have overturned the Election!’
Former New Jersey GOP Governor Chris Christie said Sunday that Trump ‘accidentally’ admitted that the 2020 election was actually legitimate by claiming last week for the first time that Mike Pence had the power to ‘overturn’ the results and not just claiming they were rigged
Christie says that Trump is now trying to do a ‘clean up on aisle one’ by releasing a slew of statements explaining that Pence had the power to delay the certification so Congress could verify there was no fraud.
All of the lawsuits and investigations into the 2020 election have either been shut down or resulted in the contrary of Trump’s claims.
Pence delivered his most direct and public rebuke of Trump on Friday – saying he had ‘no right’ to overturn the 2020 election as Trump demanded.
‘There are those in our party who believe that as the presiding officer of the Joint Session of Congress, that I possessed unilateral authority to reject Electoral College votes,’ Pence said in a defiant speech to the Federalist Society in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
‘And I heard this week that President Trump said I had the right to overturn the election. President Trump is wrong,’ Pence continued. ‘I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone.’
Trump responded by lashing out at Pence claiming he is ‘right and everyone knows it’ that a vice president can overturn elections.
Trump claimed last week for the first time that Mike Pence had the power to ‘overturn’ the results instead of just claiming the outcome was rigged. Pence pushed back against those claims
‘Just saw Mike Pence’s statement on the fact that he had no right to do anything with respect to the Electoral Vote Count, other than being an automatic conveyor belt for the Old Crow Mitch McConnell to get Biden elected President as quickly as possible,’ Trump wrote in a statement.
Christie lauded Pence’s comments against the former president.
‘I think that the actions the vice president took on January 6 spoke loudly and I’m glad he’s finally put words to it. I don’t know why it took him so long – but I’m glad that he did,’ he said on ABC Sunday morning
‘Donald Trump did respond to what the vice president said and I think it’s kind of akin to the kid standing in the corner holding its breath – it’s immature and it’s beneath the office that he held,’ Christie added.