Trump: Pence has ‘gone to the Dark Side’
Donald Trump hit back at Mike Pence on Saturday, saying his former running mate and GOP presidential race rival has “gone to the Dark Side.”
Trump's renewed criticism of the former vice president came as Pence has sharpened his attacks on his former boss over the events surrounding the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol and charges Trump faces over the mishandling of classified documents.
“WOW, it’s finally happened!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Saturday. “Liddle’ Mike Pence, a man who was about to be ousted as Governor Indiana until I came along and made him V.P., has gone to the Dark Side.”
“I never told a newly embolded … Pence to put me above the Constitution, or that Mike was ‘too honest.’ He’s delusional, and now he wants to show he’s a tough guy,” Trump added.
The Pence campaign began selling merchandise emblazoned with the “Too Honest” phrase in reference to the Jan. 6 indictment unsealed against Trump this week, in which prosecutors say the then-president called out his vice president with the words over his refusal to reject electoral votes during the 2020 election certification process.
Prosecutors on Friday night called a judge’s attention to another social media post from Trump in which they say the former president appeared to declare that he’s “coming after” those he sees as responsible for his legal challenges, raising the specter that he might use evidence to target witnesses.
“If you go after me, I’m coming after you!” Trump wrote in all caps.
Pence defended certifying the 2020 election for Joe Biden in response to jeers and insults from a crowd of Trump supporters outside a campaign event in New Hampshire on Friday.
“Why’d you sell out the people?” a man called out as Pence arrived for a town hall in Londonderry. “Why didn’t you uphold the Constitution?”
“I upheld the Constitution,” Pence said in response. “Read it.”
Pence further criticized Trump this week — without saying his name — over his repeated attempts to overturn the election.
“Today’s indictment serves as an important reminder: anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States,” Pence said in a statement.
On Saturday, Pence emphasized the gravity of mishandling classified materials at a national security event in New Hampshire.
“We’ve got to be deadly serious about handling classified materials in this country,” Pence said. “I owned up to it,” the former vice president said of his own “inadvertent” handling of documents found at his home in the wake of searches of Trump’s properties.