Adamant Trump defender and potential vice presidential candidate Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) said Thursday that if she were in former Vice President Mike Pence’s shoes on Jan. 6, 2021, she “would not have done” what he did.
“I don’t think that was the right approach,” Stefanik told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on The Source, referring to how Pence refused to bend to pressure from Trump and his allies to reject or delay the certification of Electoral College votes.
Stefanik claimed there was “unconstitutional overreach in states like Pennsylvania,” even though several dozen of Trumpworld’s election-related lawsuits across the country were thrown out. His lone initial win—in Pennsylvania—shortened the time frame for voters to “cure” their ballots, but that ruling was subsequently overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
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“I think it’s very important that we continue to stand up for the Constitution and have legal and secure elections, which we did not have in 2020. And tens of millions of Americans agree with me,” Stefanik went on to say, giving further credence to Trump’s bogus claims of widespread election fraud.
It was the first time Stefanik has said she would have complied with the former president’s request to throw out the 2020 presidential election—a question that has quickly emerged as a litmus test for any of Trump’s potential running mates.
Stefanik is widely seen as one of the leading contenders for Trump’s vice presidential pick, buoyed by her remarkably consistent support for him despite his many legal and public relations woes in recent months.
Later in the interview, Collins asked the New York congresswoman why a sternly worded statement she had issued after the Jan. 6 insurrection can no longer be found on her website.
Stefanik sidestepped the question.
“It’s publicly available,” she said. “I have all my public statements from the current Congress. You can access all my previous public statements.”
“But why was it deleted from your website?” Collins asked again.
“I only have the press releases from this current Congress,” Stefanik answered.
“All of those statements are available—since I was elected—on multiple social media accounts and you can access it there,” she said.
When Collins asked if the absence of her Jan. 6 statement on her website should be considered a “retraction” of it, Stefanik was clear.
“No. Certainly not.”
“I have press releases for the current Congress,” she reiterated. “The reality is, you as a journalist can go through all of my official social media accounts and find my previous statements.”
In a Jan. 6 tweet, which is still up, Stefanik wrote: “I fully condemn the dangerous violence and destruction of the Capitol grounds. These actions are unAmerican. Thank you to the men and women in blue - the heroic @CapitolPolice - who are protecting the American people and the People’s House.”
The webpage, which used to contain a lengthier statement on the events of that day now reads, “Error: The page you requested does not exist or is undergoing routine maintenance.”
Stefanik has recently called those jailed for their roles in the insurrection “hostages,” and complained about “baseless witch hunt investigations” into the events of that day.
