Recalling how former Vice Presidents Al Gore and Dan Quayle fulfilled their roles in certifying elections they lost was much more influential in former Vice President Mike Pence’s ceremonial ending of the 2020 campaign than his boss, former President Donald Trump.
In one of several interviews to promote his new book, Pence said he looked to the examples of Quayle and Gore in deciding to certify the election of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Jan. 6, 2021.
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On SiriusXM’s Julie Mason Mornings today, Pence said that he received some advice from Quayle, who lost his job in the 1992 election when he ran with former President George H.W. Bush against Bill Clinton and Gore.
“I was grateful that Vice President Quayle said that, when we spoke, that he was simply confirming what I already intended to do, and it was all born of the belief in my heart as a student of the Constitution and a student of history, as I recount in my book, that, you know, the presidency belongs to the American people and to the American people alone,” said Pence.
And he said that he recalled how Gore played his role after losing his presidential bid to George W. Bush in 2000 and after a long recount.
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“I sat in the chamber as Vice President Al Gore presided over a joint session of Congress. It was Jan. 6, 2001. It was uneventful,” said Pence.
The former vice president described how his relationship with Trump soured at the end.
“I’d always been loyal to President Donald Trump. He was my president. He was my friend. I’m incredibly proud of the record that we forged during the Trump-Pence administration. But I had a higher loyalty, and that was to God and to the Constitution,” said Pence, who is mapping out a campaign for the presidency and against Trump, who tonight is expected to be the first in the 2024 GOP primaries.
