Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said on Sunday that he thinks former Vice President Mike Pence missed an “historic opportunity” when he refused to intervene in the ceremonial counting of electoral votes on January 6, 2021 to secure the 2020 presidential election for former President Trump.
Ramaswamy, in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” was asked whether Pence did the right thing on Jan. 6 – a question other candidates were pressed to answer on the debate stage Wednesday night, but one he managed to avoid. Ramaswamy responded, “I would have done it differently” when asked if Pence had done the right thing. “I think that there was a historic opportunity that he missed to reunite this country in that window.”
Ramaswamy continued, providing the answer he had prepared for the debate, had the moderators pressed him to answer the question.
“I would have said that this is the moment for a national consensus, where there are two elements required for a democracy to function in America. The first is to ensure that elections are secure, and the second step is to have a peaceful transition of power. It’s a chance for heroes to shine when these things clash. What I would have said is that we should vote on Election Day only. We need paper voting ballots and government-issued ID that matches the voter file. Ramaswamy said that if this is achieved, we will have won and there should be no more complaints about election integrity. Pence was taken to safety that day when Trump supporters swarmed the Capitol to try to stop the process, with some chanting ‘hang Mike Pence.’ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hesitated at first before being pressed into answering. He then conceded that Pence had done his job on that particular day and said that he does not have a beef with the former Vice President. All rights reserved.
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