Pence defends not conceding 2020 election before Jan. 6

Former Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday defended not conceding the 2020 presidential election until after Congress certified Electoral College the results in January 2021, pointing to the Trump campaign's ongoing lawsuits challenging the results. 

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked Pence in an interview on Tuesday about why he did not publicly concede the election in mid-December, after the members of the Electoral College had cast their votes. 

Pence said he wanted to be “respectful” of the process, as “a lot” of the lawsuits that the campaign filed in the key states that clinched President Biden’s victory were still active in the days leading up to Jan. 6, 2021, when Pence presided over the session of Congress to read the votes and the Capitol was attacked by Trump supporters. 

“The reality is I wanted to respect the process. I wanted to make it clear that I was going to do my job as the presiding officer over the Congress as my 47 predecessors had done and as vice president serving as president of the Senate,” he said. 

The Trump campaign filed lawsuits in several key states following Biden’s 2020 victory, but the lawsuits were dismissed and election audits confirmed Biden’s win in every state that was challenged. 

Pence remained largely loyal to former President Trump throughout the election but split with his now-former boss over his role presiding over Congress during the reading of the votes. Trump and his allies called on Pence to reject the votes for Biden in the key swing states, but Pence maintained that he did not have that power and was only serving in a ceremonial role. 

Some of the Capitol rioters chanted that they wanted to "hang" Pence on Jan. 6, while Trump tweeted his vice president "didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done.”

Pence argued last month as he kicked off his presidential bid that Trump’s role in Jan. 6 should disqualify him from office. 

The former vice president also defended his actions on Jan. 6 during a campaign event in Sioux City, Iowa, last week, telling an attendee that he acted as required by the Constitution. 

Pence told Collins that the attendee later told CNN that she appreciated that he is a “man of faith” and would consider voting for him. 

“I welcome the opportunity to talk about the record that we built under the Trump-Pence years, but I also welcome the opportunity to talk to people about what I understood to be my duty,” he said.