Trump says Mike Pence has been 'mortally wounded' in the GOP because he refused to help overturn the 2020 election

• Donald Trump said Mike Pence was "mortally wounded" by his decision to certify the 2020 vote count.
• On Sunday, Trump berated Pence, accusing him of not having the "courage" to overturn the election.

Former President Donald Trump laid into former vice-president Mike Pence over the weekend, saying Pence was "mortally wounded" in the GOP after the latter refused to overturn the election results on Jan. 6.

Trump was speaking at a ticketed event in Florida with former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly when he told the crowd that he thought Pence had been "very badly hurt" by allowing the 2020 election to be certified.

"Mike Pence is a good man. He served me well. I was disappointed only in one thing, but it was a big thing. It's like saying we won the game, we win another game, but we got our ass kicked in the World Series," Trump said. "Mike should have sent those crooked votes back to the legislatures and you would have had a different result in the election, in my opinion."

On Sunday, Trump also criticized Pence for not having the "courage" to not certify the vote.

"I think Mike has been very badly hurt by what took place in respect to Jan. 6," Trump said, according to footage of the event obtained by CNN. "I think he's been mortally wounded, frankly, because I see the reaction he's getting from people."

Representatives for Pence did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.

In January, Pence publicly broke with Trump and certified the results of the 2020 election, even as Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, with some calling for Pence to be hanged.

In recent months a memo written by Trump-allied lawyer John Eastman that urged Pence to not certify the vote, and outlining how Pence could hand the election to Trump was revealed.

Pence, meanwhile, has stood firmly by his decision to certify the election results on Jan. 6. In November, Pence said he was guided by founding father James Madison and the Bible when he decided to break with Trump and certify the vote.

"Psalm 15 says he keeps his oath even when it hurts," Pence said, citing a verse from the Bible and alluding to the oath of office he took to defend the Constitution. "I understand the disappointment in the election. You might remember I was on the ballot. But you've got to be willing to do your duty."

Insider's Tom LoBianco reported in May that Pence might be laying the groundwork for a potential 2024 presidential run by attending events and conferences and re-emerging into the public eye.

Trump himself has teased a presidential run but stopped short of formally announcing it. However, the former president has indicated that he might tap Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as a vice-presidential candidate if he runs in 2024,