WASHINGTON -- The rivalry between former President Donald Trump and his vice president, Mike Pence, was put on display Tuesday as the two gave dueling speeches in Washington on the future of the Republican Party.
Trump, in his first return to Washington since Democrat Joe Biden ousted him from the White House, repeated the false election fraud claims that sparked the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, while Pence, in a separate address, implored the party to move on from Trump's defeat.
"It was a catastrophe -- that election. A disgrace to our country," Trump said, insisting despite all evidence that he won in 2020. And he continued to tease his plans for the future, telling his cheering crowd, "We may just have to do it again."
Federal and state election officials from both parties and Trump's own attorney general have said there is no credible evidence the 2020 election was tainted.
Pence, in an opposite approach from Trump, said, "Some people may choose to focus on the past, but elections are about the future."
Addressing the Young America's Foundation, a student conservative group, Pence spoke about his own "Freedom Agenda" as he presented a different vision for the party at a conference nearby.
"I believe conservatives must focus on the future to win back America. We can't afford to take our eyes off the road in front of us because what's at stake is the very survival of our way of life," he said.
Trump, too, said America's survival was at stake. In a speech billed as focused on public safety, he said the country was in imminent danger from crime.
Among his proposals, he called for executing drug dealers, sending the homeless to tent cities on the outskirts of towns and expanding his Southwest border wall to keep out the thousands of violent criminals he said resumed pouring in after Biden moved into the White House.
Biden joined in on Twitter, dismissing Trump's claim to have been a law-and-order president.
Referring to the Capitol riot, he tweeted: "I don't think inciting a mob that attacks a police officer is 'respect for the law.' You can't be pro-insurrection and pro-cop -- or pro-democracy, or pro-American."
Trump addressed a summit organized by a group of former White House officials and Cabinet members who have been crafting an agenda for a possible second Trump administration. But he spent plenty of time airing his usual grievances.
Pence repeatedly touted the "Trump-Pence administration." But the first question he received during a brief question-and-answer session was about his growing split with Trump, which is particularly stark given the years he spent as the former president's most loyal sidekick.
Pence denied the two "differ on issues," but acknowledged, "we may differ on focus."
"I truly do believe that elections are about the future and that it's absolutely essential, at a time when so many Americans are hurting and so many families are struggling, that we don't give way to the temptation to look back," he said.
Trump has spent much of his time since leaving office decrying his loss to sow doubt about Biden's victory. Even as the House Jan. 6 committee has been laying bare his attempts to remain in power and his refusal to call off a mob of his supporters as they tried to halt the peaceful transition of power, Trump has continued to try to pressure officials to overturn Biden's win.
Beyond the summit, the America First Policy Institute has been making preparations for another possible Trump administration, "making sure we do have the policies, personnel and process nailed down for every key agency when we do take the White House back," said its president, Brooke Rollins.
Information for this article was contributed by Lisa Mascaro of The Associated Press.