McMaster "absolutely" agrees with Pence that he couldn't overturn election
Washington — Retired General H.R. McMaster, who served as national security adviser to former President Donald Trump, said Sunday he agrees with former Vice President Mike Pence that Trump was wrong about his ability to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
"Absolutely, and all Americans should agree with Vice President Pence," McMaster told "Face the Nation" when asked whether he agrees with the former vice president. "It's time … I think to demand more from our political leaders, demand that they stop compromising confidence in our democratic principles and institutions and processes to score partisan political points. This happens across both political parties, and it's just time to stop."
While Trump claimed in a statement last week that the former vice president "could have overturned the election," Pence rejected the former president's assertion during a speech before the Federalist Society in Florida on Friday.
"President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election," Pence said, adding that "there is no idea more un-American than the notion that any one American could choose the American president. Under the Constitution, I had no right to change the outcome of our election."
McMaster also split from the Republican National Committee's (RNC) characterization of the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol as "ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse." The RNC on Friday approved a resolution to censure GOP Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois for sitting on the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack.
"It was illegitimate political discourse, because it was an assault on the first branch of government," McMaster said. "It's really important for us to come together now. … I really think it is possible to improve the transparency and the security of our elections while ensuring that every eligible voter gets to vote. So I think what we need to do is stop posturing across these political parties and begin conversations with what we can agree on."
McMaster said it's "pretty clear" the nation is emerging from numerous traumas of the past few years, which underscores the need for unity.
"It's time for Americans to come together and to restore our confidence in who we are as a people and in our democratic principles and institutions and processes," he said. "And of course, Russia preys on our weakness and divisions and tries to portray democracy as weak."
McMaster added that democracies are resilient, and the nation can "come out of these traumas stronger."