Former US Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday opened his bid for the Republican nomination for President by once again denouncing former President Donald Trump over the riots on the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, The Associated Press reported.

On that day, Pence said, as Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol, Trump “demanded I choose between him and our Constitution. Now voters will be faced with the same choice.”

His comments were made during a speech at a community college in a suburb of Des Moines, Iowa. Pence spent much of the speech criticizing President Joe Biden and the direction he has taken the country, he also addressed Jan. 6 head-on, saying Trump had disqualified himself when he declared falsely that Pence had the power to keep him in office.

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

Pence accused the former president of abandoning the conservative values he ran on, including on abortion.

He also bemoaned the current politics of “grudges and grievances,” saying the country needs leaders who know the difference between the “politics of outrage and standing firm.”

“We will restore a threshold of civility in public life,” said Pence, but also did not rule out supporting Trump if the former president wins the GOP nomination.

Pence officially entered the presidential race on Monday when his campaign filed a declaration of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission, ending months of speculation over whether he would seek the Republican nomination.

In addition to Trump, other candidates seeking the Republican nomination are Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who filed his paperwork on Tuesday.

Before joining the race, Pence regularly blasted Trump or his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the US Capitol. In March, he issued his sharpest condemnation yet of Trump, saying, “President Trump was wrong. I had no right to overturn the election. And his reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day, and I know history will hold Donald Trump accountable.”