Elise Stefanik, the pro-Trump No. 4 House Republican, won't commit to certifying the 2024 election and wants to 'see if this is a legal and valid election'

• Elise Stefanik on Sunday wouldn't say if she'd definitively certify the 2024 election results.
• While on NBC News, Stefanik said she'd have to assess whether or not the election is "valid."

Rep. Elise Stefanik on Sunday wouldn't commit to certifying the 2024 presidential election results, saying she'll have to assess whether the the outcome of the contest is "legal and valid."

Stefanik, the chair of the House Republican Conference and an ardent backer of former President Donald Trump's reelection bid, told host Kristen Welker on NBC's "Meet the Press" that she didn't certify the 2020 results in Pennsylvania due to what she said were "unconstitutional acts circumventing the state legislature" in the key battleground state.

When pressed by Welker over certifying the 2024 results, Stefanik proceeded to slam Democrats and lambasted efforts to remove Trump from the GOP presidential primary ballots in Colorado, Maine, and several other states.

"We will see if this is a legal and valid election," the New York congresswoman said of the upcoming November contest. "What we're seeing so far is that Democrats are so desperate, they're trying to remove President Trump from the ballot. That is a suppression of the American people."

"And the Supreme Court is taking that case up in February — that should be a nine to zero to allow President Trump to appear on the ballot because that's the American people's decision to make this November," she added.

Welker then asked Stefanik: "Will you only commit to certify the results if former President Trump wins? Does that mean only if former President Trump wins?"

Stefanik replied: "No, it means if they're constitutional. What we saw in 2020 was unconstitutional circumventing of the Constitution, not going through state legislators when it comes to changing election law."

The congresswoman, who is widely seen as a potential vice presidential candidate and in the interview said she'd be "honored" to serve in a potential second Trump administration, echoed the former president's use of the term "hostages" to describe the individuals prosecuted for their ties to the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.

Stefanik called Jan. 6 a "truly tragic day" before pivoting to the welfare of those who are currently serving out their sentences in jail.

"I have concerns about the treatment of January 6 hostages," she told Welker. "We have a rule in Congress of oversight over our treatments of prisoners. And I believe that we're seeing the weaponization of the federal government against not just President Trump, but we're seeing it against conservatives."

President Joe Biden last week blasted Trump, the GOP presidential frontrunner, in a major speech where he argued that the former president had sought to to subvert democracy and destabilize American institutions.

But on Sunday, Stefanik charged that it is actually Biden and the Democratic Party that pose a "threat to democracy," pointing to myriad challenges tied to Trump's 2024 ballot eligibility.