Following the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. United States, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: 

“Donald Trump is a convicted felon, and his VP contenders think he should be able to do whatever he wants – whether it’s pledging to be a dictator on ‘day one,’ ripping away our freedoms, or threatening our democracy. Trump’s potential running mates have made clear they will desperately stand by his side as he spews election denial lies, promises to pardon January 6 insurrectionists, and refuses to commit to accepting this year’s election results. The stakes of November could not be higher, and voters will stop Trump and whichever MAGA extremist he runs with from carrying out their dystopian, anti-American vision to threaten our democracy.”

Trump wants an election denier to be his running mate, and his VP contenders are desperately parroting his lies and refusing to commit to accepting this November’s election results.

NBC News: “Burgum, like other contenders, has declined to comment on whether he would accept the 2024 election results.”

HuffPost: “[J.D. Vance] said he would accept a Biden win only if he considered the election to be legitimate.”

Washington Post: “Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who has been floated as a possible running mate for former President Donald J. Trump, on Sunday refused to commit to accepting the results of the 2024 presidential election and repeated conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.”

Washington Post: “Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) was pressed at least six times in a TV interview Sunday on whether he would accept this November’s results. He repeatedly declined to do so… He continued to evade the question even as the interviewer, NBC News’s Kristen Welker, reminded him that a ‘hallmark of our democracy is that both candidates agree to a peaceful transfer of power.’”

NBC News: “In an appearance on NBC News’ ‘Meet the Press’ in January, Stefanik declined to commit to accepting the 2024 election results. ”

Laura Coates, CNN: “Will you accept the results of the 2024 election regardless of who wins, yes or no?”

Ben Carson: “I will accept the results if it’s done in a fair and transparent way… let me put it this way: In the 2020 election, there were a lot of irregularities.”

Abby Phillip, CNN: “If Donald Trump loses the election in 2024, will you accept the results of that election?”

Byron Donalds: “My answer has been very clear on this.”

Phillip: “It’s a yes or no question.”

Donalds: *refuses to commit to accepting the results*

Phillip: “So your answer is conditional on– based on?”

Donalds: “My answer is always conditional.”

Daily Beast: “Sen. Tom Cotton Says He’ll Accept 2024 Election Results—With a Condition”

Josh Meny, 2 News Nevada: “Do you have any regrets about picking Mike Pence as your vice president? And what will you do differently this time around when you’re vetting your VP?”

Trump: “Mike did a good job until the end when he didn’t have the courage to do what you have to do. … if he did that, I believe you would have had different election results.”

NBC News: “None of these potential vice presidential picks have committed to accepting the 2024 election results, whether Trump wins or loses.” 

Washington Post: “Top Republicans, led by Trump, refuse to commit to accept 2024 election results”

“The question has become something of a litmus test, particularly among the long list of possible running mates for Trump. … The GOP’s desire to appease Trump’s fixation on 2020 now appears to loom over his search for a running mate.”

MSNBC: “Potential GOP running mates hedge on accepting election results”

Axios: “Trump and his allies will want a VP pick that is more willing to comply with the former president’s wishes, which former Vice President Pence rejected by certifying the 2020 results.”

Trump’s potential running mates have also downplayed his role in the January 6 insurrection and whitewashed the violence of that day.

The Hill: “JD Vance says he is ‘skeptical’ Pence’s life was in danger on Jan. 6”

Kirsten Welker, NBC: “Donald Trump has yet to concede. Is that not undemocratic? Particularly for someone who is running to be the leader of this country and the free world again?” 

Doug Burgum: “Donald Trump at the end of his term on January 20, left the White House, we had a smooth transition [after the 2020 election].”

Welker: “January 6 was not exactly a smooth transition, governor.”

Burgum: “Well I think we have to say that there was a smooth transition.”

Newsweek: “‘There was no way they were going to overthrow the government,’ said Rubio. … ‘I also do not think people should be misled to think this somehow was on the verge of overthrowing the government.’ Rubio also explained another reason why the events of January 6 should not be considered an insurrection. That was because Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 presidential election eventually resumed after protesters broke into the Capitol building.”

Tim Scott: “99 percent of the people who showed up were there to exercise their First Amendment rights. What I said then is what I’ll say now. I don’t hold those people at harm.”

Politico: “Elise Stefanik calls Jan. 6 defendants ‘hostages’”

Astead W. Herndon, New York Times: “Do you see [Trump’s] rhetoric as at least connected to the events that happened on January 6, even if you don’t see them affecting trust in the democratic system overall?”

Byron Donalds: “No, I don’t.”

Associated Press: “Noem defends Trump legacy, deflects blame for Capitol mob”

Roll Call: “Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas consistently has staked out a tough-on-crime stance during his time in the Senate, but he and other congressional Republicans have sided with the defendants in a Supreme Court case about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.”

Ben Carson: “I think it would have been appropriate, perhaps, to look at all of the alternative theories seriously because there was significant controversy about what had happened in the election.”

NBC News: “Vivek Ramaswamy promotes Jan. 6 conspiracy theory by suggesting it was ‘an inside job’”

Fox News: “Tulsi Gabbard slams the Jan 6 hearings: It’s ‘political interest’”

Trump’s VP contenders have stood by him as he spewed shameful rhetoric that echoes dictators.

The Hill: “Vance slams ‘poisoning our blood’ comparisons between Trump comments, Nazis”

“‘[Trump] said illegal immigrants were poisoning the blood of this country, which is objectively and obviously true’… Vance said.”

Florida Politics: “Marco Rubio defends Donald Trump remarks that immigrants are ‘poisoning the blood’ of the U.S.”

Politico: “Stefanik silent after Trump says immigrants are ‘poisoning the blood’ of US”