Former Vice President Mike
Pence is speaking out on former
President Trump's
call to actually terminate his word,
terminate the United States Constitution
to overturn
the 2020 presidential election
and to reinstate him to power.
That comes
as the White House is ramping up pressure
on the GOP to condemn Trump's
almost unbelievable thought of shredding
the document that enshrines
the rights of every American.
CNN congressional correspondent
Jessica Dean is joining us
live from Capitol Hill right now.
Jessica, more Republicans
are in fact speaking out,
but some top GOP
leaders are still notably silent.
What can you tell us?
They certainly are, Wolf.
And we're still waiting to hear
from a Senate Minority
Leader, Mitch McConnell,
who said he'll be talking about this
during his press conference,
his regularly scheduled
press conference tomorrow.
So we will hear from him
tomorrow on this issue.
In terms of other Senate leadership,
we did hear from Senator John Thune.
He said he could not disagree more
with what Trump had said.
He's the the number two the
the Senate minority whip here.
We also heard in tweets from Senator
Mike Rounds.
He was pretty strong about it.
He said
no one should be threatening
to terminate the Constitution.
Senator Lisa
Murkowski saying
that suggesting the termination
of the Constitution
is not only a betrayal
of our oath of office,
it's an affront to our republic.
Now, I was just down at the Senate vote
they just took a vote.
My colleague
and I
talked to Senator Roger Marshall,
who told us
he simply didn't know
what we were talking about.
He hadn't read the comments.
I told him what those comments were.
And he said that
he thought
perhaps they'd been taken out of context,
that we should be talking about
other issues,
other things like gas prices,
like the economy.
He did not want to be talking about this,
that's for sure.
We also tried to speak to Senator
Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott.
They did not answer any questions
about their thoughts
on president former
President Trump's comments.
We also heard from his former Vice
President, Mike Pence.
Here's what he had to say.
I must tell you that
I think
everyone that serves in public office,
everyone that aspires to serve
or to serve again,
should make it clear that we will support
and defend
the Constitution of the United States.
Now, over on the House side, House
Minority Leader
Kevin McCarthy has so far remained
totally silent on the whole issue.
We can point, Wolf, to one tweet, though,
back in November,
several really weeks ago at this point,
he noted that he was vowing to read
the Constitution.
Every single word of the Constitution
on the House floor
when Republicans take over
in the new session
of Congress in January.
But that is really
the last thing we've heard.
And it was certainly before
the former president made these comments.
And, Wolf,
one thing to remember, Republicans
both in the House
and the Senate don't want to be talking
about this sort of thing.
They had really had this reprieve
with former President
Trump's comments when he was off Twitter.
And now
and now that he's talking more,
he's launched his bid for reelection.
They're having to talk about it
more and more.
They certainly are.
Jessica Dean, thank you very, very much.
Let's bring back CNN's Abby
Phillip and Nia-Malika Henderson,
along with CNN
senior political commentator,
the former Ohio Republican governor,
John Kasich.
And Governor
you just heard Jessica
lay out the response
that's trickling
in from members of your own party.
Are you satisfied
with the level of condemnation
from Republicans
in the wake of Trump's call
to actually terminate the U.S.
Constitution?
Oh, of course not.
Well, you know what?
Every time he said stuff
over the last four or five, six years,
you know, he
we would say things that I thought
were so out of bounds
and somehow people would kind of like it.
Remember, John McCain
wasn't a hero because he got caught.
I mean, I heard him
say things like that,
and I thought people would just walk away
and they didn't.
But now I think the circus is sort
of leaving town.
There's probably still a few people
going to the circus
or want to go to the circus.
But he's he's just really this is just
it's just ridiculous,
isn't it, what you hear?
And I don't know who could be advising
him, but I can tell you
he is whatever he's
thinking, he's gained here.
I mean,
and then, of course, that banner
he had with the with with the racist
and Semite.
It's one thing after another.
So I think as I say,
I think the circus is leaving town
and people bad had enough.
We shall see.
You know, Abbi,
just days ago,
as you heard,
Kevin McCarthy
said Republicans would read every word
of the U.S.
Constitution from the House floor
on the first day of the new Congress.
He clearly revered the document then.
Are you surprised
we haven't actually heard from him
yet in the aftermath
of these Trump statements?
Not surprised at all.
And I think that this situation
with Kevin McCarthy
really highlights
what is going on here
in the Republican Party.
Kevin McCarthy
wants to be speaker of the House.
He knows that
that is going to be so much less likely
if he makes Donald Trump mad.
And so he's not going to say anything
if he can help it or if he says something
sort of
like what happened
when Trump had dinner with Kanye West
and the anti another anti-Semite,
Nick Fuentes,
he kind of he basically lied and claimed
that Trump denounced those two men
when Trump
never did
any such thing
in an effort
to try
to avoid
criticizing Trump
in this critical moment.
This is what happens,
I think, for a lot of Republicans
They don't like what he's doing,
but they cannot afford to alienate him.
And so they try as much as they can
to stay silent.
Now, what do you think?
No, I think that's right.
Donald Trump
is still the leader
of the Republican Party despite
sending the party
to defeat in 20, 18 and 20, 20 in 20, 22
despite
the fact that he mounted
a coup on January six,
despite the sort of social media presence
that he's had
at this point,
calling for the termination
of the Constitution.
And so you've got leaders of the party
who are still scared of Donald Trump
because they know that roughly 30, 35%
of the Republican Party
is still with Donald Trump.
Their hearts
and minds are still with Donald Trump.
They believe what Donald Trump says.
And so if you're Kevin McCarthy
if you're Mitch McConnell
even I'm not sure
if you at this point are prepared
to say that you would not support
Donald Trump in 2024.
And listen,
every Republican leader
should be asked that question
or are they going to support
Donald Trump in 2024.
Governor give me your final word
You had
these politicians
they want to inherit the earth
and they're going to lose their soul,
Wolf.
And, you know, it's
just it's just beyond the pale.
I just I think his support is slipping.
I've been saying it for a while.
He's like the Wicked Witch of the West
when they threw the water on her,
he's shrinking just like she did.
I think we're beginning to see the end.
It's hard to believe they'll never be.
It's hard to believe that
a former president of the United States
would actually call for terminating
the U.S.
Constitution.
Guys, thank you very, very much.
Governor Kasich,
Abby Phillip, Nia-Malika Henderson.
Appreciate it very much.