Pence called Arizona governor in 2020 but doesn't recall 'any pressure' from Trump to overturn results
Former Vice President Mike Pence confirmed a report that he called then-Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) after the 2020 election to discuss former President Trump's loss in the state but said he doesn't recall "any pressure" from Trump to overturn those results.
“I think the record reflects that I did check in with not only Governor Ducey, but other governors in states that were going through the legal process of reviewing their election results, but there was no pressure involved. … I was calling to get an update. I passed along that information to the president.,” Pence said in an interview aired Sunday on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.”
Moderator Margaret Brennan specifically asked the former vice president about reporting from the Washington Post that indicated Trump called Ducey to pressure him to find enough fraudulent votes to overturn his 2020 loss in Arizona, and that Trump pushed Pence to “prod” Ducey to help back up claims of election fraud.
The Post reported that Pence did not pressure Ducey, and Brennan asked him specifically if he felt any pressure from Trump to influence the former Arizona governor.
“No, I don't remember any pressure,” Pence responded.
“Look, the president and I — things came to a head at the end … The president and I continue to have a strong difference. I'll always believe that by God's grace, like I did my duty under the Constitution that day, presiding over a joint session of Congress in the aftermath of the mayhem and rioting,” Pence said, referring to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
Trump had urged Pence to use his authority to overturn the 2020 election results while serving in his capacity as vice president to oversee Congress' certification of the Electoral College results. Pence broke with Trump as the riot was unfolding, indicating in a letter he believed he did not have the authority to do so.
“But in the days of November and December, this was an orderly process. You'll remember there were more than 60 lawsuits underway. States were engaging in appropriate reviews and these contacts were no more than that,” Pence told Brennan about the calls he made to governors in states where Trump's loss was being contested.
A Republican-led audit of the 2020 presidential election results in Arizona's largest county showed President Biden actually won by a larger margin than the official results showed.
“Look, the states were going through a process after, after so much uncertainty about the election outcome in places like Arizona and places like Georgia, states around the country were going through the legal process of engaging in a review under state law. I got updates on that. passed that along and it was no more, no less than that,” Pence said of his calls to Ducey.