Pence defends US Constitution as he collects award for January 6 actions

Former vice president Mike Pence acknowledges his staff members as he speaks after receiving the John F Kennedy Profile in Courage Award (Robert F Bukaty/AP)

Former vice president Mike Pence repeatedly invoked the US Constitution and said it is what “binds us all together” after receiving the John F Kennedy Profile in Courage Award on Sunday.

Mr Pence received the award for his refusal to go along with President Donald Trump’s efforts to remain in office after losing the 2020 election.

The award recognises Mr Pence “for putting his life and career on the line to ensure the constitutional transfer of presidential power on Jan 6, 2021,” the JFK Library Foundation said.

“To forge a future together, we have to find common ground,” Mr Pence said.

History will record that our institutions held

“I hope in some small way my presence here tonight is a reminder that whatever differences we may have as Americans, the Constitution is the common ground on which we stand. It’s what binds us across time and generations… It’s what makes us one people.”

His comments came hours after an interview with Mr Trump aired in which he was asked whether US citizens and noncitizens both deserve due process as laid out in the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.

Mr Trump was noncommittal.

“I don’t know. I’m not, I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know,” Mr Trump said when pressed in an interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker. It was taped on Friday at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida and aired on Sunday.

Mr Pence never mentioned the president during his 10-minute speech but made several references to the Trump administration.

Referencing what he called “these divided times, in these anxious days,” he acknowledged that he probably had differences with the Democrats in the room but also with his own Republican Party “on spending, tariffs and my belief that America is the leader of the free world and must stand with Ukraine until the Russian invasion is repelled and a just and lasting peace is secured”.

Mr Trump pressured Mr Pence to reject election results from swing states where the Republican president falsely claimed the vote was marred by fraud.

Mr Pence refused, saying he lacked such authority.

When a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, some chanted that they wanted to “hang Mike Pence” who was whisked away by Secret Service agents, narrowly avoiding a confrontation with the rioters.

Mike Pence, second from right, stands with his wife Karen Pence, far right, as he is presented with the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award by Jack Schlossberg and his mother, Caroline Kennedy (Robert F Bukaty/AP)

“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify,” Mr Trump wrote at the time on X as rioters moved through the Capitol and Mr Pence was in hiding with his family, aides and security detail inside the building.

Mr Pence rejected the Secret Service’s advice that he leave the Capitol, staying to continue the ceremonial election certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential victory once rioters were cleared.

In describing his role, Mr Pence told the audience that “by God’s grace I did my duty that day to support the peaceful transfer of power under the Constitution of the United States of America”.

“January 6 was a tragic day but it became a triumph of freedom. History will record that our institutions held,” he said in his speech.

“Leaders in both chambers, in both political parties reconvened the very same day and finished democracy’s work under the Constitution.”

JFK’s daughter Caroline Kennedy, who along with his grandson Jack Schlossberg presented the award, said Mr Pence’s actions that day were a reminder that you cannot take democracy for granted.

“At the time I thought vice president Pence was just doing his job,” she said.

“Only later did I realise that his act of courage saved our government and warned us about what could happen and is happening right now.”

The Profile in Courage Award, named for a book Mr Kennedy published in 1957 before he became president, honours public officials who take principled stands despite the potential political or personal consequences.

Previous recipients of the award include former presidents Barack Obama, George HW Bush and Gerald Ford.

Mr Pence has emerged as one of the few Republicans willing to take on the Trump administration.

His political action group, Advancing American Freedom, campaigned against the nomination of Robert F Kennedy Jr to lead the nation’s health agencies.

He has delivered speeches urging the president to stand with longtime foreign allies and posted an article he penned more than a decade ago on the limits of presidential power after Mr Trump claimed: “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.”