Former Vice President Mike Pence says that he has not talked to former President Donald Trump since last summer.
The former vice president indicated his relationship with the former president has suffered from tension over the events of Jan. 6, 2021, a date on which the two expressed differing views of the vice president’s constitutional responsibility in overseeing the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.
“You know, we talked last summer,” Pence told Fox’s Jesse Watters on Thursday. “And, you know, I’ve said many times, it was difficult. Jan. 6 was difficult. It was a tragic day in the life of the nation.”
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When was the last time Former Vice President Mike Pence spoke to Former President Trump? WATCH #FoxNews pic.twitter.com/4LWKvK3B0c
— Jesse Watters Primetime (@jesseprimetime) January 28, 2022
“I know I did my duty under the constitution of the United States,” Pence added. “But the president and I sat down in the days that followed that. We spoke about it, talked through it. We parted amicably.”
Pence has downplayed the broader import of Jan. 6, saying “one tragic day in January” was being used to demean Trump supporters in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network. However, he has not expressed regret over upholding the election results that day.
The former vice president’s decision not to overturn the election on Jan. 6 has placed him at odds with some Trump followers, leading the former president to claim that Pence’s relationship with the party was weak.
“I think Mike has been very badly hurt by what took place in respect to Jan. 6,” Trump said at an event in Florida in December of last year. “I think he’s been mortally wounded, frankly, because I see the reaction he’s getting from people.”
Trump did qualify his criticism of his onetime running mate, however, by saying his Jan. 6 decision was the only source of disappointment with Pence.
“It’s like saying we won the game, [and] we win another game, but we got our a** kicked in the World Series,” Trump said. “Mike should have sent those crooked votes back to the legislatures, and you would have had a different result in the election, in my opinion.”
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Trump has called Pence a “good man” who made a “big mistake” in not recognizing the “massive voter fraud and irregularities” that the former president has claimed several times since 2020. The Trump campaign filed several lawsuits alleging voter fraud, the majority of which were tossed by federal courts.
This tension between Pence and Trump has not stopped the former vice president from fundraising for GOP legislators in other states, including New Hampshire.
