| "President Trump was wrong." Former Vice President Mike Pence set off shock waves with those words in a speech Friday afternoon at the Federalist Society's annual conference in Orlando, Florida, issuing his sharpest rebuke yet of former President Donald Trump and his claims that Pence could have refused to certify the Electoral College votes. "President Trump is wrong," said Pence. "I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency belongs the American people, and the American people alone. And frankly, there’s no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president."
A CNN panel reacted with effusive praise moments later, with Gloria Borger calling Pence's remarks "remarkable."
On Fox News, Martha MacCallum covered the speech and asked contributor Joe Concha why he thought Pence was speaking out now. “Because Mike Pence is in the right,” Concha said. “Mike Pence had no ability to overturn that election on January 6th and Donald Trump, the former president, making that claim at a rally last weekend simply was wrong to say that.”
“Mike Pence was as loyal a soldier as anyone to President Trump,” he continued, adding, “He’s tired of hearing these things said about him by Donald Trump that are not true.”
Steve Bannon, one of the targets of the House Select Committee's investigation into Jan. 6, attacked Pence on his podcast as "stone-cold coward."
Trump, unsurprisingly, smacked back at his former veep, issuing one of those "Statements" he emails out since being banned from Twitter. "I was right, and everyone knows it," wrote the petulant former prez.
The reactions continued through the weekend cable news shows, as former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) praised Pence's speech, and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) awkwardly dodged when Face the Nation's Margaret Brennan asked him about it.
Pence's former chief of staff Mark Short was on Meet the Press, and slammed Trump for being surrounded by "bad advisors who were basically snake-oil salesmen."
The speech was still a hot topic Monday morning. Fox News correspondent Gillian Turner saw it as a sign of a looming divide in the GOP, a "litmus test" of whether or not Republican candidates agreed that Jan. 6 was an insurrection.
In Other News... The Rock Backtracks Support for Joe Rogan After Learning About His N-Word Usage: 'Now I've Become Educated to His Complete Narrative' Meta's Latest SEC Filing Contains a Threat to Pull Facebook and Instagram from Europe If They Can't Keep Targeting Ads
WATCH: Jordan Spieth Hits an Unbelievably Crazy Golf Shot While Standing Perilously on the Edge of a Cliff National Archives Reportedly Forced to Physically Retrieve Records From Trump – Who is Known For Shredding Official Documents 6.5.0 | 
