Jun 17, 2022 - Politics & Policy

Trump: "I never called Mike Pence a wimp"

Erin Doherty

President Donald Trump displayed on a screen during a hearing of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack. — Former President Trump on a screen during a hearing of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 attack. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Former President Trump said Friday that former Vice President Mike Pence "did not have the courage to act," referring to Pence's refusal to overturn the 2020 election results.

Why it matters: Trump's remarks at a gathering of Christian conservatives comes one day after the Jan. 6 select committee laid out the relentless pressure Trump put on Pence to reject electoral votes.

The committee also released testimony from numerous Trump aides about a "heated" Jan. 6 phone call between Pence and Trump, with one former White House assistant testifying that he recalled Trump calling Pence a "wimp."

What he's saying: "I never called Mike Pence a wimp. Mike Pence had a chance to be great," Trump said Friday in Nashville.

"He had a chance to be frankly historic, but just like Bill Barr and the rest of these weak people, and I say it sadly because I like him, but Mike did not have the courage to act."
Trump also accused the Jan. 6 committee of "knowingly spinning a fake and phony narrative."

The big picture: The Jan. 6 select committee on Thursday presented evidence that top Trump allies in the administration, the campaign and the media were well aware his plans to overturn the election lacked legal basis, Axios' Andrew Solender reports.

The committee is using the hearings to make a comprehensive case for Trump's culpability in the attack on the Capitol as the Justice Department watches closely.

Go deeper... Trump called Pence a "wimp" on "heated" Jan. 6 phone call

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Trump: "I never called Mike Pence a wimp"

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