While the GOP primaries are far from over, former President Donald Trump has clearly separated himself from the pack as a heavy favorite to walk away with the nomination.
But as Trump’s chances of securing that nomination grow bigger, so too does that proverbial target on his back.
Case in point, early Saturday, The Washington Post put out an exclusive report attacking the former president for trying to “pressure” then-Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to “overturn the state’s presidential election results.” (Which side is it again that just can’t seem to let 2020 go?)
While the article frames itself as some journalistic “gotcha,” it really just comes off as the latest unhinged attack piece on the former president and little else.
To the mild surprise of some, former Vice President Mike Pence seemingly threw cold water on that report when he appeared on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” program with Margaret Brennan on Sunday.
Given that Pence and Trump have had something of a falling out since the end of that particular administration, and that Pence is ostensibly a 2024 GOP primary rival to Trump, there was little reason for the former vice president to come to Trump’s aid after this accusatory report.
And yet, Pence seemed to deny the crux of the report when he spoke to Brennan.
Asked about @washingtonpost report that Trump urged @Mike_Pence to “prod” then AZ Gov Ducey to overturn 2020 election, Pence tells @margbrennan he called Ducey & other Govs to get an update on election result reviews but doesn’t recall “any pressure” from Trump to influence… pic.twitter.com/eh0JW1iBVo
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) July 2, 2023
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“Is that [Washington Post] reporting accurate?” Brennan asked Pence. “And what did you tell Gov. Ducey at the time?”
“Well, I think the record reflects that I did check in with not only Governor Ducey, but other governors in states that were gong through the legal process of reviewing their election results,” Pence responded. “But there was no pressure involved.
“Margaret, I was calling to get an update. I passed along that information to the president.”
So there you have it. By Pence’s own words, “there was no pressure.” Case closed, right?
Well, not quite.
Because if you peel the onion back just a little more, something here stinks, and it’s not the onion.
Take careful note of what exactly Pence is denying and what the Post is reporting.
Because one possible interpretation of Pence’s remarks could be that they’re less a defense of Trump and more an exoneration of the former vice president himself.
Pence’s remarks on Sunday really only pertain to himself. He made it clear that “there was no pressure” — from him.
And if you look at that Post report, you’ll see that the outlet almost frames it as if Pence was some noble bastion of defense from Trump’s palpable anger at the 2020 election results.
“Trump also repeatedly asked Vice President Mike Pence to call Ducey and prod him to find the evidence to substantiate Trump’s claims of fraud, according to two of these people,” the Post reported. “Pence called Ducey several times to discuss the election, they said, though he did not follow Trump’s directions to pressure the governor.”
If the slant of the Post’s piece wasn’t bad enough, there’s also the issue of sourcing.
This entire scathing report (admittedly, if this report is 100 percent accurate, it’s certainly not the best look for the former president) is sourced on on a mere “three people familiar with the call” between Trump and Ducey.
Oh, and of those three people, just two of them could even corroborate that Trump pressured Pence to “prod” Ducey on the election results.
Look, there’s no telling who these two unnamed sources could be, but given the parties involved, it’s more than fair to say these two sources are connected to one of Trump, Pence, or Ducey.
The story makes Trump look pretty bad, so barring sabotage, that makes it unlikely Team Trump leaked this story to the Post.
And of Pence and Ducey, neither of whom are really popular with Team Trump, only one of them is actively competing with Trump for a GOP presidential nomination.
Look, by all indications, Mike Pence is a genuinely good man of faith. There is absolutely no evidence that this whole debacle is as duplicitous and two-faced as it seems.
However, we do know that politics brings out the worst in people. That much is inarguable as evidenced by nearly 250 years of American politics (or even the last 250 days of American politics.)
And as long as Pence insists on merely saying that he did not “prod” or “pressure” governors — and not explicitly saying that Trump issued no such directive — he is leaving that window of doubt open just a little bit.
