Former US President Donald Trump has said that Russia would never have launched a special operation in Ukraine if former Vice President Mike Pence had invalidated Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. In his view, it was Pence’s decision that caused many of the current problems, from the escalating conflict in Ukraine to inflation and the failed withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, Newsweek writes.
Speaking on Thursday night shortly before the House special committee hearing to investigate the January 6 Capitol attack, former US President Donald Trump accused former Vice President Mike Pence of being the cause of many of America’s current problems in the wake of the 2020 election. According to Trump, Pence’s refusal to overturn the election results also led to the escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Newsweek reported.
Russia would never have launched a special operation in Ukraine if Pence had invalidated Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election, Trump believes. And Pence’s reluctance to invalidate the results ended up triggering a host of problems, from the escalating conflict in Ukraine to inflation, rising fuel prices and the failed withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, the former president stressed. Trump also posted this on his Truth Social social media page, as the hearing was broadcast live, the article explains.
Trump’s statement underlines that Pence told him and everyone else that he “couldn’t do anything about the vote count in the election”, dismissing all his calls to investigate “large-scale voter fraud” and various irregularities in the 2020 election process. Trump argues that Pence was wrong, Newsweek writes.
According to the former president, it was Pence’s refusal to do so that could have “turned out to be a game-changing event”, with negative consequences for the US and other countries. “We would have had no inflation, we would have had inexpensive gasoline and energy dominance, there would have been no armed conflicts and masses of deaths, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine would never have happened,” Trump said.
He also stressed that America would have been able to withdraw its contingent in the same timeframe, but would have done so with strength and dignity. In addition, he argued, it would have allowed the US to keep Bagram Air Base, avoid unnecessary deaths and not leave the Taliban* with up to $85 billion worth of first-class military equipment.
If Pence had not immediately conceded Biden’s victory and state legislatures had simply taken another hard look at all the fraud, abuse and irregularities discovered during the election, America would be very different now, Trump said.
Nearly two years after losing the election, Trump continues to claim without any credible evidence that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him, Newsweek recalls. “Mike Pence lacked the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our Constitution,” he wrote on Twitter on January 6 as disgruntled Americans stormed the Capitol.
Tensions between Trump and Pence have continued to escalate since both left their previous posts and peaked in February this year after Pence said Trump was wrong to claim he had the right to “call off the election”.
Meanwhile, a bipartisan bill that proposes to amend the Electoral Vote Counting Act of 1887 to ensure that the vice president can only count electoral college votes based on the choice of voters in each state was tabled for a congressional vote on Wednesday, Newsweek concludes.