Mike Pence, Trump’s vice-president, has condemned the attacks on the FBI for their execution of a search warrant on Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago, further signaling that at least some members of the Republican party want to distance themselves from Trump’s hysterical reaction that triggered anger among his supporters who threatened violence against the fbi and the department of justice.
“I … want to remind my fellow Republicans we can hold the attorney general accountable for the decision that he made without attacking the rank-and-file law enforcement personnel at the FBI,” Pence said on Wednesday at New Hampshire’s Saint Anselm College.
“The Republican party is the party of law and order. Our party stands with the men and women who serve on the thin blue line at the federal, state and local level. And these attacks on the FBI must stop,” he said.
But what was even more interesting was that he seemed to be inviting the January 6th committee to ask him to testify before the panel.
“If there was an invitation to participate, I would consider it…I would have to reflect on the unique role that I was serving as vice-president… “It would be unprecedented in history for the vice-president to be summoned to testify on Capitol Hill. But, as I said, I don’t want to prejudge ever any formal invitation rendered to us.”
Trump has been lashing out furiously at the committee and all those who have testified, since those hearings have really damaged him. He must be apoplectic that even his once-loyal lapdog seems to offering to cooperate with it.
Seriously, how do they think that will end for them? You might be a member of some kind of hokey people’s militia, but we’re talking here about “threatening violence” against an organisation with about 35,000 employees -- most of them armed and trained and authorised for deadly force, with an annual budget a snidget under 10 BILLION dollars.
Also -- can Trump really be surprised that the man he dried out to hang is perhaps not 100% loyal? Trump literally said Pence deserved to be murdered. I can’t imagine he could get any more angry with the bloke than he already is. The only place he’s really got to go from there is literally killing Pence himself, and Trump really doesn’t strike me as an “I’ll do it” kind of guy.
I think Pence is setting himself up to run again. If Trump gets arrested Pence can run as a moderate right and try to pick up some of the extreme right by saying he is the non-criminal half of the Trump administration. I don’t think it will work for several reasons but mostly because he doesn’t have the charisma. Pence running as moderate right is a farce, he runs from middle to insane right depending on the issue, but that is where he positions himself.
“I … want to remind my fellow Republicans we can hold the attorney general accountable for the decision that he made without attacking the rank-and-file law enforcement personnel at the FBI,” Pence said on Wednesday at New Hampshire’s Saint Anselm College.
So he’s saying it’s okay to lash out at the AG for doing his job according to the law, just not at the “rank and file” LEOs whom the Republicans pretend to love and cherish so much.
Short answer: he’s not really condemning his party’s hyperpartisan attacks on the FBI; he’s just giving a teensy bit of tactical advice and pretending it’s “distancing” him from the stench of treason.
Another thing I notice here is that Pence said it’s okay to lash out at the AG, who is appointed by Biden; but not at the FBI director, who was appointed by Trump, even though the latter was more directly responsible for the “raid” on Mar-a-Lago. So how much “distance” is he really adding between himself and Trump? One millimeter? Two?