Marc Short, the former chief of staff of Vice President Mike Pence, pushed back against the Republican National Committee’s recent description of the seditious attack on the U.S. Capitol during a Sunday morning interview.
“I did not see a lot of legitimate political discourse,” Short said on NBC’s Meet the Press.
Censuring GOP Reps. Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney for taking part in the House select committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, the RNC passed a resolution last week saying the two lawmakers were participating in “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”
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Though party leaders quickly attempted to clarify the language, insisting that they weren’t referencing the rioters who engaged in violence, the censure itself made no such distinction. As The New York Times reported, the resolution was “the latest and most forceful effort by the Republican Party to minimize what happened” on Jan. 6, along with former President Donald Trump’s larger attempt to overturn the 2020 election results.
Short, who recently testified before the Jan. 6 committee, first discussed Pence’s assertive rebuke of Trump’s insistence that the former veep had the legal authority to reject and change the results of Trump’s election loss.
“Well, Chuck, I think as you mentioned, Vice President Pence has commented on Jan. 6 on several occasions,” Short told NBC anchor Chuck Todd. “And he extended those remarks a little bit this week to the Federalist Society, primarily because the president's comments about the vice-president had the ability to overturn the election, I think, merited response.”
He added: “Of course, there is nothing in the 12th Amendment or the Electoral Count Act that would afford the Vice President that authority, and that’s why no Vice President in 200 years has ever used that authority. And it’s certainly not one, I think, that conservatives or Republicans would want Kamala Harris the ability to say she’s going to reject votes heading into 2024.”
At the same time, while acknowledging that President Joe Biden was “duly elected” and Pence couldn’t flip the election results, the Pence aide did give lip service to Trump supporters’ unfounded and false claims of widespread voter fraud.
“I’m not sure that all the allegations out there were baseless, Chuck. I’m not confident of that,” Short declared. “But I think the reality, again, we’re asking what is the constitutional role of the Vice President of the United States? We’re governed by rule of law, not rule of men. The reality is he was following what the Constitution afforded the Vice President in the Electoral Count Act. He was doing his duty under the oath to the Constitution to defend it.”
Recounting the events surrounding the Jan. 6 attack, Short said that Pence and his staff stayed at the Capitol the entire time so they could assure that Congress would complete certifying the electoral count that night.
“They wanted to attempt to put the Vice President in a motorcade,” he noted. “But he said, ‘That's not a visual I want the world to see, of us fleeing the Capitol.’ And we stayed there and worked to bring the business back together and complete the work that night.”
Reacting to some of the rioters notoriously chanting “Hang Mike Pence,” Short said that while it was a “tragic day” and the insurrection was an “unfortunate taint” on the Trump administration’s four-year record, he felt the press has “tarnished” all Trump supporters by associating them with the violent MAGA mob.
“The media wants to display it as all thugs at the Capitol that day,” he grumbled.
“Did you see a lot of legitimate political discourse that day?” Todd asked in response, referencing the RNC resolution.
“From my front-row seat, I did not see a lot of legitimate political discourse,” Short replied, adding: “But, Chuck, to your question, you know—I, in talking to some members of the RNC, I think there is concern that there are people who were there peacefully protesting, who have been pulled into this—what I think has more become a prosecution by the January 6 committee—and feel like they're being unfairly treated. ”
