Former VP Mike Pence hit back at his fellow Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, and his demand that all of them pledge to pardon Donald Trump during the first debate on Fox.
PENCE: I don't know why you assume Donald Trump will be convicted of these crimes.
RAMASWAMY: You should be able to make a commitment, the same justice system that's corrupt.
PENCE: That is the difference between you and me. I have actually given pardons when I was Governor of the state of Indiana. And it usually follows a finding of guilt and contrition by the individual that's been convicted. So, we'll look. If I am president of the United States, we'll give fair consideration to any pardon requests, but if I may, if I may, you know it's not about looking back at January 2021.
After appearing to almost grow a spine, Pence, of course, repeated what he's said before, that he really wished this had been resolved by the "American people" rather than the Department of Justice.
PENCE: And look, I've made it clear, I had hoped that the issues surrounding the 2020 election and the controversies around January 6h had not come to this, had not come to criminal proceedings. I would rather they had been resolved by the American people and the American people alone.
But no one is above the law and president Trump is entitled to the presumption of innocence that every American is entitled to, an we make sure to extend that to him, but the American people deserve to know that the president asked me in his request that I reject or return votes unilaterally, power no vice president in American history had exercised or taken, he asked me to put him over the constitution and I chose the constitution and I always will.
Trump tried to get him killed, and he still won't stand up to him. Refusing to say he'll pardon him no matter what is a step in the right direction, but it's way too little, too late.
