"I did not have the right to reverse the election": former American Vice-President Mike Pence rebelled, Friday, February 4, against Donald Trump on the assault on Capitol Hill, taking the opposite view of the Republican Party which considered that these demonstrations were a "legitimate political expression".

During a speech in Florida, Mike Pence dismissed allegations by the former Republican president, who argued that as vice president he could have prevented the certification of Joe Biden's victory by elected officials on January 6 2021.

>> To see: A year after the storming of the Capitol, resentment persists among Trump supporters

It was on this cold winter day that thousands of Donald Trump supporters gathered in Washington and invaded the headquarters of Congress by the hundreds, to try to put pressure on Mike Pence and the elected officials.

"President Trump said I had the right to reverse the election, but President Trump is wrong," he said Friday, in remarks of rare firmness.

“And, honestly, there is no less American idea than the notion that only one person can choose the president,” he charged.

The Republican Party very loyal to Donald Trump

Loyal among the faithful when Donald Trump was in power, Mike Pence, who did not rule out launching himself into the race for the White House - even if it meant confronting the billionaire there - had already contradicted his president, but never way as direct as Friday.

Several elected Republicans agree with him, working for weeks hand in hand with the Democrats on a bill to prevent any election from being reversed.

>> To read: A year after the assault on the Capitol, Donald Trump wants to avenge "his stolen victory"

But Mike Pence's statements above all brought to light the divisions among conservatives.

Because only a few hours earlier, the Republican Party, very loyal to the billionaire, decided to politically sanction two elected officials from their party who are investigating the role of Donald Trump in the organization of the assault on Congress.

This essentially symbolic no-confidence motion accuses Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger of "destructive" behavior for "the Republican Party and our republic".

Several moderate party figures denounced Friday's no-confidence motion.

"Shame falls on a party that would censor people who seek the truth in the face of vitriol," said Senator Mitt Romney.

The attack on the Capitol, "legitimate political expression"

Meeting in Congress in the mountainous state of Utah, the conservative party then stressed that January 6, 2021 was nothing but a "legitimate political expression", when some Democrats call these events "terrorism".

Mike Pence called the day "dark".

Main interested, the elected Liz Cheney castigated that "the leaders of the Republican Party have made themselves the voluntary hostages of a man who admits to having tried to overturn a presidential election".

>> To see: Fractured democracy?

The assault on the Capitol, one year later

The Republican billionaire has repeatedly accused this elected official from Wyoming, who has become one of his greatest enemies in the American Congress, of being "disloyal" and announced that he would support his rival in a Republican primary to prevent him from being re-elected.

This election in Wyoming, scheduled for August, promises to be one of the most closely watched in the midterm elections.

With AFP

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