Former Vice President
Pence today said
his old boss
should not face charges
based on today's select
committee referral.
He said that today on warehouse Fox
and he also said this
I must say from very early
on, I've been disappointed
in the partizan nature
of the select committee on Capitol Hill.
I made to have a committee
that was literally appointed
in its entirety
by the Democrat speaker of the House
really violates the history
and tradition of the Congress.
The United States.
This select committee from
the very beginning has
has as represented a kind of a partizan
taint that I think
it's one of the reasons
why so few Americans
are paying much attention
to what happened today
or to the results
or recommendations of this committee.
Keeping Them Honest, the
former vice president
there is being disingenuous at best
to the extent that the select committee
lacks members appointed by Kevin McCarthy
It does have two Republican members,
Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney.
That's because Kevin McCarthy
decided to withdraw members.
And I could go on and on.
But let's talk with Olivia Troye,
who served as homeland security
and counterterrorism adviser
to Vice President Pence.
I mean, he keeps on doing this and
he is smart.
He knows this is disingenuous.
The there was a move to have a bipartisan
commission like the Nine 11 Commission
and McCarthy
pushed back and made demands.
Pelosi gave him everything.
And then he said, no,
I don't want it at all.
Then there was a committee.
He put witness
to this on the committee, like Jim
Jordan,
Pelosi said,
you can't put these two witnesses on,
but these three you can keep on.
He withdrew everybody. I mean, it's just.
Why does he do this?
This is he's defending the same folks
who were yelling Hang Mike Pence.
Yeah. It's absolutely ridiculous.
And it's also honestly, it's offensive
to all the people that I worked with
in the Trump
White House who came forward
and testified.
These are true
believing Republicans who are all in
on the administration for the most part,
who were up there
testifying
truthfully And also, Liz Cheney, come on.
That's partizan.
She is as conservative as Mike Pence.
I mean, they are on the same level of that.
And so I think,
you know, I think he's once again,
even though
Donald Trump sent
an entire mob his direction
and put him at great risk
by the lies that he was peddling.
He's still defending him.
And it's
it's infuriating to me to watch this
because someone who worked for him
got to know him on a personal level.
And I actually believed in him
and believe
that he's actually a good person at heart
and who really cares about this country.
I think it just shows cowardice
and it shows a lack of leadership.
And as for someone who wants to run
possibly for 20, 24,
I don't think he's distinguishing
himself in any way.
He he did call Trump's actions reckless,
which I guess is the bare minimum
he could say,
given the fact
that his literally
his wife and daughter
were put in harm's way
because the president
was demonizing him to the crowd.
He stopped short of blaming Trump.
He said,
I don't know that it's criminal
to take bad advice from lawyers.
It is.
If the bad advice is
they're taking his criminal advice,
it's criminally bad. Why?
Because he wants to be president.
Like, what is the reason
I think it's political craven is
I think that's what it is.
And honestly,
when I see this, though, I kind of
I kind of want to say like,
what role
are you actually running for, though?
Because it almost
feels like he's
running for vice president again
to Donald Trump,
because I feel like he's
continuing to pander to this man
who quite frankly,
his supporters want
nothing to do with them.
There's no benefit of this.
And really,
it's a disservice
to the country to continue
to kind of behave that way
and say it's reckless.
It was more than that.
It was an attempt to overturn an election
where a lot of enablers
came together and were part of this.
And you should be
as a person
who had to make a really hopefully
the right decision.
He did make the right decision
to uphold the Constitution that day.
He was a hero. Right.
He made the right decision.
He did his job.
And I just keep
I keep
I kept wanting him
to come forward and say, hey,
this is really what happened.
This is where we are as a country.
We need to move away from this. We did.
He doesn't want to do that.
And I think it's
because he believes
that somehow that voting bloc
that is supporting
Donald Trump
is going to come back to them.
And I don't I don't see that
coming back to him at all.
I think he's kind of pitching himself
as Trumpism without Trump,
the Trump policies,
without the nastiness.
But I don't know that he's negotiating it
correctly. Olivia Troy, thanks so much.
Seriously, Olivia Troy, thanks so much.
Because I'm wondering
where that fire was
as somebody
Alyssa, who says he might be running
for president.
Vice President Mike Pence.
Where is this level?
I mean, if somebody is saying
and claiming
to have you hung with your family,
I don't understand
why there isn't more rage or anger,
why that person is still
getting the deference
that listen,
I will always give Mike Pence credit
for what he did on January six.
But I think any,
you know, red blooded American,
if their family is threatened,
if their life is threatened,
they're going to react.
They're going to show some emotion,
some anger.
And even as someone who knows them
and respects Mike Pence,
it's so bizarre
and a little hard
to see
this tepid kind of criticism of him
at this point in it,
especially just real quick,
if he wants to run against Donald Trump,
you have to be ready to take him on.
And he's clearly not willing.
Listen, I think if Mike Pence on the left,
the Capitol,
gone down
and gotten a fistfight
with Donald Trump in the Oval Office
for putting his family at risk,
I think a lot of people would say, wow,
I like Mike Pence.
He did what I would have done. Right.
He'd be pulling hang Mike Pence.
You don't you go in there.
The Secret Service would have
to separate me
from the president at that point. Right.
And I think that people see this and say
that is a little tepid.
It's a nice word to say. Right.
I don't know. This week, Mike Pence is just he's
he's just Midwest nice.
But I'm from Minnesota.
I'm Midwestern.
That's not the same thing, really.
And I mean,
he did the right thing.
He did the right thing.
In the in the annals of history.
Why can't he own that?
I understand people in politics
not wanting to own the stupid stuff
that they do
and the lawful stuff that they do.
He just refuses to own it sometimes.
But the other thing about him,
though, is much as I agree with Alissa,
that he deserves a lot of credit
for what he did,
I think he was a hero of that day.
The fact of the matter is
he deserves some of the blame
because he had his own
individual responsibility
as a candidate on the ballot in 2020
to concede that election.
And he should have done that, you know,
by the latest December 16th
when the electors voted.
And so he is actually
partially responsible.
But I think I think they pushed back.
I did think they pushed back a lot internally.
But he should have
he should have said outright, we lost.
Right. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry that the president declines
to acknowledge that.
But we lost. I agree with you.
And I think he has
to figure out who he is
and what he stands for,
because if you get
I don't know
when you
get in a Republican primary,
when you get in a Republican primary
and say Donald Trump
is there on the stage with you
and you know that Donald Trump
has called
you a name
right to your face, something that upset
Ivanka, etc., What are you going to do?
Are you going to say,
well, on the one hand
and on the other hand,
know, what you did was correct.
Some would even say courageous
because I'm
sure he had death
threats out the wazoo after that.
And stick with it. Yeah.
Remember,
that's what Mike Pence writers
with 40 feet away.
These guys were 40 feet away
listening service protecting him.
I have literally been standing
with Mike Pence
when he has confronted
Vladimir Putin
forcefully and bravely and strongly.
The fact that he cannot dedicate
that same level of strength
and just standing up for the Constitution
to the former president,
it's going to be his own undoing
if he wants a political future.
He needs to call a spade a spade.
Donald Trump
tried to overthrow the government.
He's unfit for office and call
him out and move on.
I'm sorry.
I'm under section for 24,
but I'm curious. Never going to happen.
Hold on.
I got to know what are you saying?
We're starting in stark contrast
in what way they sound to Putin.
That is so distinct here.
I mean, I'm imagining him as well.
Use your word, tepid.
Are you saying that, Joe Vladimir Putin,
he was able to say
we were some way
we were in Singapore once
and he called him out on meddling
in the election directly to his face.
It was off camera.
But he he has that capacity.
But he's giving he's
shrinking back into his worst instincts
like he's somehow
going to win the die hard MAGA.
And you never will.
At the time when the president
was saying that he believed Putin,
that there wasn't
any meddling in the election,
that's therein lies
the challenge
of working for Donald Trump.
Right. A disagreement between the two of them.
And how did that you know,
how did that always get settled?
There's a common thread
over a common thread.
I like to say.
Look, again, Mike Pence is a
I think we all agree on this table.
Good, good American,
good person, did the right thing
on January 6th.
I just wish
you'd have seen a little bit more fire
a little bit more like to George's point,
a little more owning it
and kind of coming down and saying, look,
you know what?
Before the election, we lost.
Let's just let's just move forward.
I wish I'd have seen a little more.
Let's not just single him out, though,
because many other Republicans
have not said anything is why me?
Mike Pence is obviously the poster child
we're talking about right now.
But why
why is this strange dance happening?
Why is it so difficult
to have a full throated condemnation,
especially because, look,
there is political baggage
going into yet another election season.
One would think cut the cord well.
But you have to blame the Democrats
here, right?
I mean, this is this is the game.
This one's.
Hold on. Hold on.
This is a game that Pence was playing,
the game they all play,
which is oh,
if we had only had more Republicans
on the committee, well, guess what?
You could have had more Republicans
on the committee.
And I would argue
if you had had more
Republicans on the committee,
maybe you wouldn't be able to say, oh,
we didn't have our point of view.
Well, it's a third clearly.
Look, even even the former president
at one point in time
spoke up about this point,
said like,
why don't we ask more question?
Why don't we cross-examining people?
Why are we doing this?
And you don't get that Bill. Exactly.
Gave up those slots, right? Yes.
You could have had people in there,
maybe not Jim Jordan,
maybe not the people that they wanted
You could had very smart people on there
asking very tough questions.
And you could have peel back
the onion on some of the stuff
and maybe it made it
a little bit more balanced.
I don't think the outcome
would have been different.
I think today we'd be exactly
where we are today
with the January 6th Commission
issuing the exact same report.
But you have had a little bit
more bipartisanship on this whole thing.