By Tim Reid

(Reuters) -Former Vice President Mike Pence, who loyally served Donald Trump for four years, on Wednesday blasted his former boss for the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol as he launched his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Pence issued his most forceful condemnation to date of Trump’s role in the attack of Jan. 6, 2021, when the then-president’s supporters stormed the U.S. Congress to try to stop lawmakers from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory.

“I believe that anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States, and anyone who asked someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president of the United States again,” Pence said in a speech in Iowa, which kicks off the Republican nominating contest next year.

It was an extraordinary attack by Pence, not only because he has mostly shied away from attacking Trump directly until now, but also because the Jan. 6 attack is rarely mentioned by other Republican presidential hopefuls.

They view it as politically toxic, fearful that condemning the attack and Trump’s part in it will alienate Trump’s supporters and other Republican primary voters. Trump is currently the front-runner in the Republican race.

Pence is placing a high-risk bet that voters in the nominating contest will reward him for backing the Constitution, rather than Trump.

Pence said Trump’s actions on that day “endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol.”

During Trump’s tumultuous four years in the White House, Pence repeatedly defended him through multiple scandals. But he incurred the wrath of Trump and his supporters when, as ceremonial president of the Senate, he refused to stop the certification of Biden’s victory.

Pence, who turned 64 on Wednesday, joins a crowded nominating contest that is currently a two-man race between front-runner Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum also announced candidacies this week, raising the number of Republican White House hopefuls into double digits.

It is extremely rare for a vice president to run against a president he served under, and it has happened just a handful of times in U.S. history. Pence enters the Republican primary with a mountain to climb, polling at just 5% and trailing Trump by 44 percentage points, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll in May.

Pence said on Wednesday he had no constitutional authority to meddle with the election results and that Trump had been “wrong.” In Twitter posts on Jan. 6, Trump accused Pence of cowardice.

Trump supporters stormed the Capitol during the certification process, forcing Pence, family members, lawmakers and staff to flee to safety. Some rioters chanted for Pence to be hanged.

“The American people deserve to know that on that day, President Trump also demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution. Now voters will be faced with the same choice. I chose the Constitution and I always will,” he said.

Pence will follow his announcement with a CNN town hall event Wednesday evening.

The growing number of candidates could clear the way for a Trump victory, because they risk splintering the anti-Trump vote, letting the former president clinch the nomination like he did in similar circumstances in 2016, party members and strategists said.

Pence, a conservative Christian, will focus much of his campaigning on Iowa. The state has a significant number of evangelical voters among its Republican electorate. Pence hopes a strong showing in the state will give him momentum and propel him into contention.

ABORTION, UKRAINE

In his Iowa speech, Pence accused Trump of treating abortion as “an inconvenience.” As president, Trump appointed conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices who helped end the national right to abortion last year.

“Donald Trump and others in this race are retreating from the cause of the unborn,” Pence said.

Trump has declined to back a federal law restricting abortion rights, saying the issue should be left to individual states. Pence backs Congress passing a law enshrining abortion restrictions nationally.

Pence also took a swipe at DeSantis, a leading contender for the nomination, for saying that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a “territorial dispute,” a remark DeSantis later walked back.

“I know the difference between a territorial dispute and a war of aggression,” Pence said.

Trump, in remarks to conservative commentator Todd Starnes on Monday, wished Pence luck, but criticized him for allowing the certification of the 2020 election results.

“We had a strong, nice relationship until the very end,” Trump said. “We disagreed on that last moment in time on that very issue.”

(Reporting by Tim Reid; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Ross Colvin and Alistair Bell)

By Tim Reid

(Reuters) -Former Vice President Mike Pence, who loyally served Donald Trump for four years, on Wednesday blasted his former boss for the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol as he launched his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Pence issued his most forceful condemnation to date of Trump’s role in the attack of Jan. 6, 2021, when the then-president’s supporters stormed the U.S. Congress to try to stop lawmakers from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory.

“I believe that anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States, and anyone who asked someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president of the United States again,” Pence said in a speech in Iowa, which kicks off the Republican nominating contest next year.

It was an extraordinary attack by Pence, not only because he has mostly shied away from attacking Trump directly until now, but also because the Jan. 6 attack is rarely mentioned by other Republican presidential hopefuls.

They view it as politically toxic, fearful that condemning the attack and Trump’s part in it will alienate Trump’s supporters and other Republican primary voters. Trump is currently the front-runner in the Republican race.

Pence is placing a high-risk bet that voters in the nominating contest will reward him for backing the Constitution, rather than Trump.

Pence said Trump’s actions on that day “endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol.”

During Trump’s tumultuous four years in the White House, Pence repeatedly defended him through multiple scandals. But he incurred the wrath of Trump and his supporters when, as ceremonial president of the Senate, he refused to stop the certification of Biden’s victory.

Pence, who turned 64 on Wednesday, joins a crowded nominating contest that is currently a two-man race between front-runner Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum also announced candidacies this week, raising the number of Republican White House hopefuls into double digits.

It is extremely rare for a vice president to run against a president he served under, and it has happened just a handful of times in U.S. history. Pence enters the Republican primary with a mountain to climb, polling at just 5% and trailing Trump by 44 percentage points, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll in May.

Pence said on Wednesday he had no constitutional authority to meddle with the election results and that Trump had been “wrong.” In Twitter posts on Jan. 6, Trump accused Pence of cowardice.

Trump supporters stormed the Capitol during the certification process, forcing Pence, family members, lawmakers and staff to flee to safety. Some rioters chanted for Pence to be hanged.

“The American people deserve to know that on that day, President Trump also demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution. Now voters will be faced with the same choice. I chose the Constitution and I always will,” he said.

Pence will follow his announcement with a CNN town hall event Wednesday evening.

The growing number of candidates could clear the way for a Trump victory, because they risk splintering the anti-Trump vote, letting the former president clinch the nomination like he did in similar circumstances in 2016, party members and strategists said.

Pence, a conservative Christian, will focus much of his campaigning on Iowa. The state has a significant number of evangelical voters among its Republican electorate. Pence hopes a strong showing in the state will give him momentum and propel him into contention.

ABORTION, UKRAINE

In his Iowa speech, Pence accused Trump of treating abortion as “an inconvenience.” As president, Trump appointed conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices who helped end the national right to abortion last year.

“Donald Trump and others in this race are retreating from the cause of the unborn,” Pence said.

Trump has declined to back a federal law restricting abortion rights, saying the issue should be left to individual states. Pence backs Congress passing a law enshrining abortion restrictions nationally.

Pence also took a swipe at DeSantis, a leading contender for the nomination, for saying that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a “territorial dispute,” a remark DeSantis later walked back.

“I know the difference between a territorial dispute and a war of aggression,” Pence said.

Trump, in remarks to conservative commentator Todd Starnes on Monday, wished Pence luck, but criticized him for allowing the certification of the 2020 election results.

“We had a strong, nice relationship until the very end,” Trump said. “We disagreed on that last moment in time on that very issue.”

(Reporting by Tim Reid; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Ross Colvin and Alistair Bell)

By David Morgan and Gram Slattery

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. House of Representatives will postpone all votes until next week, Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on Wednesday, as a conservative revolt paralyzed the Republican Party’s efforts to advance its agenda in Washington.

The standoff between U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and a hardline faction of his own Republican majority has forced the chamber into a holding pattern that looks likely to persist until at least Monday.

“We’re going to come back on Monday, work through it and be back up for the American public,” McCarthy told reporters.

“Some of these members, they don’t know what to ask for. There’s numerous different things that they’re frustrated about, so we’ll listen to them,” he said.

The ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus sided with Democrats on Tuesday to block two bills that would prevent the federal government from putting new regulations on gas stoves.

Members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus have been upset over the bipartisan debt ceiling bill that McCarthy brokered with Democratic President Joe Biden, as well as claims that some hardliners had been threatened over their opposition to the deal.

They say McCarthy violated the terms of an agreement that allowed him to secure the speaker’s gavel in January, though it is not clear which aspects they believe were not honored.

Days of closed-door negotiations have not yielded a resolution, but McCarthy said he is confident they will sort out their differences.

McCarthy oversees a narrow House Republican majority of 222-213, meaning that he can lose only four votes from his own party on any measure that faces uniform opposition from Democrats.

Along with the gas-stove bills, the dispute also has delayed bills that would increase congressional scrutiny of regulations and expand the scope of judicial review of federal agencies.

Some Republicans are growing frustrated.

“You’ve got a small group of people who are pissed off that are keeping the House of Representatives from functioning,” said Republican Representative Steve Womack.

The hardliners were among the 71 Republicans who opposed debt ceiling legislation that passed the House last week. They say McCarthy did not cut spending deeply enough and retaliated against at least one of their members. McCarthy and other House Republican leaders dismissed the retaliation claims.

(Reporting by David Morgan; editing by Andy Sullivan, Alistair Bell and Cynthia Osterman)

By Tim Reid

(Reuters) -Former Vice President Mike Pence, who loyally served Donald Trump for four years, on Wednesday blasted his former boss for the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol as he launched his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Pence issued his most forceful condemnation to date of Trump’s role in the attack of Jan. 6, 2021, when the then-president’s supporters stormed the U.S. Congress to try to stop lawmakers from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory.

“I believe that anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States, and anyone who asked someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president of the United States again,” Pence said in a speech in Iowa, which kicks off the Republican nominating contest next year.

It was an extraordinary attack by Pence, not only because he has mostly shied away from attacking Trump directly until now, but also because the Jan. 6 attack is rarely mentioned by other Republican presidential hopefuls.

They view it as politically toxic, fearful that condemning the attack and Trump’s part in it will alienate Trump’s supporters and other Republican primary voters. Trump is currently the front-runner in the Republican race.

Pence is placing a high-risk bet that voters in the nominating contest will reward him for backing the Constitution, rather than Trump.

Pence said Trump’s actions on that day “endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol.”

During Trump’s tumultuous four years in the White House, Pence repeatedly defended him through multiple scandals. But he incurred the wrath of Trump and his supporters when, as ceremonial president of the Senate, he refused to stop the certification of Biden’s victory.

Pence, who turned 64 on Wednesday, joins a crowded nominating contest that is currently a two-man race between front-runner Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum also announced candidacies this week, raising the number of Republican White House hopefuls into double digits.

It is extremely rare for a vice president to run against a president he served under, and it has happened just a handful of times in U.S. history. Pence enters the Republican primary with a mountain to climb, polling at just 5% and trailing Trump by 44 percentage points, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll in May.

Pence said on Wednesday he had no constitutional authority to meddle with the election results and that Trump had been “wrong.” In Twitter posts on Jan. 6, Trump accused Pence of cowardice.

Trump supporters stormed the Capitol during the certification process, forcing Pence, family members, lawmakers and staff to flee to safety. Some rioters chanted for Pence to be hanged.

“The American people deserve to know that on that day, President Trump also demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution. Now voters will be faced with the same choice. I chose the Constitution and I always will,” he said.

Pence will follow his announcement with a CNN town hall event Wednesday evening.

The growing number of candidates could clear the way for a Trump victory, because they risk splintering the anti-Trump vote, letting the former president clinch the nomination like he did in similar circumstances in 2016, party members and strategists said.

Pence, a conservative Christian, will focus much of his campaigning on Iowa. The state has a significant number of evangelical voters among its Republican electorate. Pence hopes a strong showing in the state will give him momentum and propel him into contention.

ABORTION, UKRAINE

In his Iowa speech, Pence accused Trump of treating abortion as “an inconvenience.” As president, Trump appointed conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices who helped end the national right to abortion last year.

“Donald Trump and others in this race are retreating from the cause of the unborn,” Pence said.

Trump has declined to back a federal law restricting abortion rights, saying the issue should be left to individual states. Pence backs Congress passing a law enshrining abortion restrictions nationally.

Pence also took a swipe at DeSantis, a leading contender for the nomination, for saying that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a “territorial dispute,” a remark DeSantis later walked back.

“I know the difference between a territorial dispute and a war of aggression,” Pence said.

Trump, in remarks to conservative commentator Todd Starnes on Monday, wished Pence luck, but criticized him for allowing the certification of the 2020 election results.

“We had a strong, nice relationship until the very end,” Trump said. “We disagreed on that last moment in time on that very issue.”

(Reporting by Tim Reid; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Ross Colvin and Alistair Bell)

By Tim Reid

(Reuters) -Former Vice President Mike Pence, who once served Donald Trump loyally, on Wednesday blasted his former boss for his role in the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol and said he would challenge Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Pence issued his most forceful condemnation to date of Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by the former president’s supporters on the U.S. Congress as lawmakers met to certify Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

“I believe that anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States, and anyone who asked someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president of the United States again,” Pence said in a speech in Iowa, which kicks off the Republican nominating contest next year.

During Trump’s tumultuous four years in the White House, Pence repeatedly defended him through multiple scandals. But he incurred the wrath of Trump and his supporters when, as ceremonial president of the Senate, he refused to stop the certification of Biden’s victory.

Pence, who turned 64 on Wednesday, joins a crowded nominating contest that is currently a two-man race between front-runner Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum also announced candidacies this week, raising the number of Republican White House hopefuls into double digits.

It is extremely rare for a vice president to run against a president he served under, and it has happened just a handful of times in U.S. history. Pence enters the Republican primary with a mountain to climb, polling at just 5% and trailing Trump by 44 percentage points, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll in May.

Pence said on Wednesday he had no constitutional authority to meddle with the election results and that Trump had been “wrong.” In Twitter posts on Jan. 6, Trump accused Pence of cowardice.

Trump supporters stormed the Capitol during the certification process, forcing Pence, family members, lawmakers and staff to flee to safety. Some rioters chanted for Pence to be hanged.

“The American people deserve to know that on that day, President Trump also demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution. Now voters will be faced with the same choice. I chose the Constitution and I always will,” he said.

Pence will follow his announcement with a CNN town hall event Wednesday evening.

The growing number of candidates could clear the way for a Trump victory, because they risk splintering the anti-Trump vote, letting the former president clinch the nomination like he did in similar circumstances in 2016, party members and strategists said.

Pence, a conservative Christian, will focus much of his campaigning on Iowa. The state has a significant number of evangelical voters among its Republican electorate. Pence hopes a strong showing in the state will give him momentum and propel him into contention.

ABORTION, UKRAINE

In his Iowa speech, Pence accused Trump of treating abortion as “an inconvenience.” As president, Trump appointed conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices who helped end the national right to abortion last year.

“Donald Trump and others in this race are retreating from the cause of the unborn,” Pence said.

Trump has declined to back a federal law restricting abortion rights, saying the issue should be left to individual states. Pence backs Congress passing a law enshrining abortion restrictions nationally.

Pence also took a swipe at DeSantis, a leading contender for the nomination, for saying that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a “territorial dispute,” a remark DeSantis later walked back.

“I know the difference between a territorial dispute and a war of aggression,” Pence said.

Trump, in remarks to conservative commentator Todd Starnes on Monday, wished Pence luck, but criticized him for allowing the certification of the 2020 election results.

“We had a strong, nice relationship until the very end,” Trump said. “We disagreed on that last moment in time on that very issue.”

Many of Trump’s diehard supporters view Pence’s refusal to overturn the election result as treachery and will seek to block his path to the nomination.

Pence, who served as a congressman and governor of Indiana, still embraces many of Trump’s policies while portraying himself as an even-keeled and consensus-oriented alternative. On Wednesday, he said he was “proud of the Trump-Pence administration.”

(Reporting by Tim Reid; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Alistair Bell)

By Tim Reid

(Reuters) -Former Vice President Mike Pence, who once served Donald Trump loyally, on Wednesday blasted his former boss for his role in the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol and said he would challenge Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Pence issued his most forceful condemnation to date of Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by the former president’s supporters on the U.S. Congress as lawmakers met to certify Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

“I believe that anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States, and anyone who asked someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president of the United States again,” Pence said in a speech in Iowa, which kicks off the Republican nominating contest next year.

During Trump’s tumultuous four years in the White House, Pence repeatedly defended him through multiple scandals. But he incurred the wrath of Trump and his supporters when, as ceremonial president of the Senate, he refused to stop the certification of Biden’s victory.

Pence, who turned 64 on Wednesday, joins a crowded nominating contest that is currently a two-man race between front-runner Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum also announced candidacies this week, raising the number of Republican White House hopefuls into double digits.

It is extremely rare for a vice president to run against a president he served under, and it has happened just a handful of times in U.S. history. Pence enters the Republican primary with a mountain to climb, polling at just 5% and trailing Trump by 44 percentage points, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll in May.

Pence said on Wednesday he had no constitutional authority to meddle with the election results and that Trump had been “wrong.” In Twitter posts on Jan. 6, Trump accused Pence of cowardice.

Trump supporters stormed the Capitol during the certification process, forcing Pence, family members, lawmakers and staff to flee to safety. Some rioters chanted for Pence to be hanged.

“The American people deserve to know that on that day, President Trump also demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution. Now voters will be faced with the same choice. I chose the Constitution and I always will,” he said.

Pence will follow his announcement with a CNN town hall event Wednesday evening.

The growing number of candidates could clear the way for a Trump victory, because they risk splintering the anti-Trump vote, letting the former president clinch the nomination like he did in similar circumstances in 2016, party members and strategists said.

Pence, a conservative Christian, will focus much of his campaigning on Iowa. The state has a significant number of evangelical voters among its Republican electorate. Pence hopes a strong showing in the state will give him momentum and propel him into contention.

ABORTION, UKRAINE

In his Iowa speech, Pence accused Trump of treating abortion as “an inconvenience.” As president, Trump appointed conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices who helped end the national right to abortion last year.

“Donald Trump and others in this race are retreating from the cause of the unborn,” Pence said.

Trump has declined to back a federal law restricting abortion rights, saying the issue should be left to individual states. Pence backs Congress passing a law enshrining abortion restrictions nationally.

Pence also took a swipe at DeSantis, a leading contender for the nomination, for saying that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a “territorial dispute,” a remark DeSantis later walked back.

“I know the difference between a territorial dispute and a war of aggression,” Pence said.

Trump, in remarks to conservative commentator Todd Starnes on Monday, wished Pence luck, but criticized him for allowing the certification of the 2020 election results.

“We had a strong, nice relationship until the very end,” Trump said. “We disagreed on that last moment in time on that very issue.”

Many of Trump’s diehard supporters view Pence’s refusal to overturn the election result as treachery and will seek to block his path to the nomination.

Pence, who served as a congressman and governor of Indiana, still embraces many of Trump’s policies while portraying himself as an even-keeled and consensus-oriented alternative. On Wednesday, he said he was “proud of the Trump-Pence administration.”

(Reporting by Tim Reid; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Alistair Bell)

By Tim Reid

(Reuters) – Former Vice President Mike Pence, who once served Donald Trump loyally, on Wednesday announced he would challenge his former boss for the Republican presidential nomination and blasted Trump for his role in the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

In a speech in Iowa, which kicks off the Republican nominating contest next year, Pence issued his most forceful condemnation to date of Trump’s part in the Jan.6, 2021 riot, when Trump was trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden.

“I believe that anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States, and anyone who asked someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president of the United States again,” Pence said.

Pence joins a crowded field of Republican White House hopefuls challenging Trump for the party’s presidential nomination. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie entered the race on Tuesday, while North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum jumped in on Wednesday, raising the number of candidates into double digits.

It is extremely rare for a vice president to run against a president he served under, and it has happened just a handful of times in U.S. history. Pence enters the Republican presidential primary with a mountain to climb, polling at just 5% and trailing Trump by 44 points, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll in May.

Pence, who turned 64 on Wednesday, joins a nominating contest that is currently a two-man race between Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

The growing number of candidates could clear the way for a Trump victory, because they risk splintering the anti-Trump vote, letting the former president clinch the nomination like he did in similar circumstances in 2016, party members and strategists said.

Pence will follow his announcement with a CNN town hall event Wednesday evening.

Pence, a conservative Christian, will focus much of his campaigning on Iowa. The state has a significant number of evangelical voters among its Republican electorate. Pence hopes a strong showing in the state will give him momentum and propel him into contention.

During Trump’s tumultuous four years in the White House, Pence repeatedly defended him through multiple scandals.

But he incurred the wrath of Trump and his supporters when, as ceremonial president of the Senate, he refused to stop the certification of Biden’s victory over Trump in the 2020 election.

Pence said he had no constitutional authority to meddle with the election results. Trump supporters stormed the Capitol during the certification process on Jan. 6, 2021, forcing Pence, lawmakers and staff to flee to safety.

In Twitter posts, Trump accused Pence of cowardice. Some rioters chanted for Pence to be hanged.

In his announcement speech on Wednesday, Pence described it as a “tragic day”, adding: “President Trump was wrong.”

“The American people deserve to know that on that day, President Trump also demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution. Now voters will be faced with the same choice. I chose the Constitution and I always will,” he said.

Trump, in remarks to conservative commentator Todd Starnes on Monday, wished Pence luck, but criticized him for allowing the certification of the 2020 election results.

“We had a strong, nice relationship until the very end,” Trump said. “We disagreed on that last moment in time on that very issue.”

Many of Trump’s diehard supporters view Pence’s refusal to overturn the election result as treachery, and would seek to block his path to the nomination.

Pence, who served as governor of Indiana and is a former congressman, still embraces many of Trump’s policies while portraying himself as an even-keeled and consensus-oriented alternative. On Wednesday he said he was “proud of the Trump-Pence administration.”

Pence also went after what he called Biden’s “disastrous presidency,” blaming him for inflation, high fuel prices and for doing the bidding of the “radical left.”

The success of Pence’s campaign will hinge on whether he can attract enough backers of Trump’s policies who are turned off by the former president’s rhetoric and behavior to build a viable coalition.

He joins a field that now includes Christie, who was an adviser to Trump’s 2016 White House campaign but has since become a vocal critic over Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was rigged.

Christie, 60, launched his campaign on Tuesday with a withering attack on Trump, calling him a “self-serving mirror hog” and faulting other rivals for avoiding direct confrontation with the former president.

(Reporting by Tim Reid; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Alistair Bell)

By Tim Reid

(Reuters) – Former Vice President Mike Pence, who once served Donald Trump loyally, on Wednesday announced he would challenge his former boss for the Republican presidential nomination and blasted Trump for his role in the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

In a speech in Iowa, which kicks off the Republican nominating contest next year, Pence issued his most forceful condemnation to date of Trump’s part in the Jan.6, 2021 riot, when Trump was trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden.

“I believe that anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States, and anyone who asked someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president of the United States again,” Pence said.

Pence joins a crowded field of Republican White House hopefuls challenging Trump for the party’s presidential nomination. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie entered the race on Tuesday, while North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum jumped in on Wednesday, raising the number of candidates into double digits.

It is extremely rare for a vice president to run against a president he served under, and it has happened just a handful of times in U.S. history. Pence enters the Republican presidential primary with a mountain to climb, polling at just 5% and trailing Trump by 44 points, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll in May.

Pence, who turned 64 on Wednesday, joins a nominating contest that is currently a two-man race between Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

The growing number of candidates could clear the way for a Trump victory, because they risk splintering the anti-Trump vote, letting the former president clinch the nomination like he did in similar circumstances in 2016, party members and strategists said.

Pence will follow his announcement with a CNN town hall event Wednesday evening.

Pence, a conservative Christian, will focus much of his campaigning on Iowa. The state has a significant number of evangelical voters among its Republican electorate. Pence hopes a strong showing in the state will give him momentum and propel him into contention.

During Trump’s tumultuous four years in the White House, Pence repeatedly defended him through multiple scandals.

But he incurred the wrath of Trump and his supporters when, as ceremonial president of the Senate, he refused to stop the certification of Biden’s victory over Trump in the 2020 election.

Pence said he had no constitutional authority to meddle with the election results. Trump supporters stormed the Capitol during the certification process on Jan. 6, 2021, forcing Pence, lawmakers and staff to flee to safety.

In Twitter posts, Trump accused Pence of cowardice. Some rioters chanted for Pence to be hanged.

In his announcement speech on Wednesday, Pence described it as a “tragic day”, adding: “President Trump was wrong.”

“The American people deserve to know that on that day, President Trump also demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution. Now voters will be faced with the same choice. I chose the Constitution and I always will,” he said.

Trump, in remarks to conservative commentator Todd Starnes on Monday, wished Pence luck, but criticized him for allowing the certification of the 2020 election results.

“We had a strong, nice relationship until the very end,” Trump said. “We disagreed on that last moment in time on that very issue.”

Many of Trump’s diehard supporters view Pence’s refusal to overturn the election result as treachery, and would seek to block his path to the nomination.

Pence, who served as governor of Indiana and is a former congressman, still embraces many of Trump’s policies while portraying himself as an even-keeled and consensus-oriented alternative. On Wednesday he said he was “proud of the Trump-Pence administration.”

Pence also went after what he called Biden’s “disastrous presidency,” blaming him for inflation, high fuel prices and for doing the bidding of the “radical left.”

The success of Pence’s campaign will hinge on whether he can attract enough backers of Trump’s policies who are turned off by the former president’s rhetoric and behavior to build a viable coalition.

He joins a field that now includes Christie, who was an adviser to Trump’s 2016 White House campaign but has since become a vocal critic over Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was rigged.

Christie, 60, launched his campaign on Tuesday with a withering attack on Trump, calling him a “self-serving mirror hog” and faulting other rivals for avoiding direct confrontation with the former president.

(Reporting by Tim Reid; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Alistair Bell)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives was paralyzed for a second day on Wednesday as Speaker Kevin McCarthy struggled to quell a revolt by hardline Republicans, raising questions about the party’s ability to advance its agenda in Washington.

McCarthy said he felt “blindsided” after a group of conservatives derailed their own party’s effort to block new environmental regulations on household gas stoves but predicted the two sides would resolve their differences.

“We’ll work through this, and we’ll even be stronger,” he told reporters.

But the chamber remained in a holding pattern, as Republican McCarthy’s leadership team scheduled and then canceled another attempt to advance the legislation.

One of the conservatives, Representative Tim Burchett, told reporters that the two sides were working to resolve “trust issues” and said they appeared closer to a resolution.

The hardliners have vowed to use “procedural tools” to slow legislation until McCarthy agrees to their terms, raising questions about whether McCarthy was at risk of losing his post.

Those hardliners were among the House Republicans who opposed McCarthy’s election as speaker in January until he agreed to concessions that make it easy to challenge his leadership.

They were also among the 71 Republicans who opposed the compromise debt ceiling legislation passed last week. They maintain that McCarthy and his leadership team did not cut spending deeply enough, ignored their input and retaliated against at least one of their members.

“What we plan to do is to be ready at all points in time, acting in good faith, to re-forge the unity that was destroyed last week,” said Representative Dan Bishop, one of the hardliners.

McCarthy dismissed claims of retaliation and rejected allegations that he had promised deeper spending cuts.

McCarthy oversees a narrow House Republican majority of 222-213, meaning that he can lose only four votes from his own party on any measure that faces uniform opposition from Democrats.

He endured 15 floor votes in January until he finally won the vote for speaker, agreeing to a set of demands that the hardliners now say he violated to pass the debt ceiling bill. The agreement allows a single lawmaker to seek his removal through a floor vote.

Hardliners said they would not pursue that route for now.

McCarthy said he was not concerned about his political future. “If you’re worried about those things, you’re never going to govern,” he said.

(Reporting by David Morgan; editing by Andy Sullivan and Alistair Bell)

(Reuters) – North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum entered the 2024 Republican presidential race on Wednesday touting the small town values he would bring to Washington and expanding a crowded field of candidates led by a big city mogul, Donald Trump.

Burgum, 66, a former software company executive, is largely unknown beyond his state, and he will begin his White House bid well behind rivals such as Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Burgum filed paperwork for his candidacy with the Federal Election Commission before launching his campaign in Fargo, near his small hometown of Arthur, North Dakota.

He stressed his humble origins and said the next U.S. president should be “someone who’s held jobs where you shower at the end of the day, not at the beginning.”

“It shouldn’t be a surprise that small town values have guided me my entire life,” Burgum said. “Small town values are at the core of America. And frankly, big cities could use more ideas and more values from small towns right now.” Burgum’s speech Wednesday echoed a campaign-style video released before his announcement, describing his ascent from a young boy in rural North Dakota to the founder of a billion-dollar software company and a governor who has cut red tape and taxes.

His personal wealth, derived from selling his startup to Microsoft more than two decades ago, could help fund advertising aimed at raising his national profile.

Burgum’s low-key style provides a sharp contrast with the pugnacious former President Trump. In the video, entitled “Change,” the governor argues that listening to each other “with respect” is how to solve America’s problems, rather than “anger, yelling, infighting.”

While he doesn’t name other candidates, he also appears to distance himself from DeSantis’ “anti-woke” culture wars.

“I grew up in a tiny town in North Dakota,” Burgum says. “‘Woke’ was what you did at 5 a.m. to start the day.”

His announcement event was being held in Fargo. Like many other Republican governors, Burgum has signed laws banning abortion and restricting transgender rights, including gender-affirming care for minors, although the measures go unmentioned in the video.

Unlike many Republican governors, however, Burgum has called for North Dakota to achieve carbon neutrality by the end of the decade, although his strategy involves improving carbon capture technology rather than any limits on fossil fuels.

The race to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in the November 2024 election added two other candidates this week: former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Vice President Mike Pence.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax and Doina Chiacu;Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Mark Porter and Sharon Singleton)