NEW YORK: Former Vice President Mike Pence says he is not going to be backing Donald Trump within the 2024 election.
“It ought to come as no shock that I can’t be endorsing Donald Trump this yr,” Pence mentioned in an interview with Fox Information Channel Friday, weighing in for the primary time because the former president grew to become the presumptive GOP nominee. Pence ran towards Trump for his or her social gathering’s nomination however dropped his bid earlier than voting started final yr.
The choice makes Pence the newest in a sequence of senior Trump administration officers who’ve declined to endorse their former boss’s bid to return to the Oval Workplace. Whereas Republican members of Congress and different GOP officers have largely rallied behind Trump, a vocal minority has continued to oppose his bid.
It additionally marks the tip of a metamorphosis for Pence, who had lengthy been seen as certainly one of Trump’s most loyal defenders however broke together with his two-time operating mate by refusing to associate with Trump’s unconstitutional scheme to attempt to stay in energy after shedding the 2020 election. When Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, attempting to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s win, Pence was pressured to flee to a Senate loading dock as rioters chanted, “Hold Mike Pence!” outdoors.
With a view to take part within the Republican major debates, Pence was required to signal a pledge saying that he would help the social gathering’s eventual nominee. And throughout the first debate in Milwaukee, Pence was among the many candidates who raised their fingers when requested whether or not they would help Trump even when he have been convicted in certainly one of his 4 prison indictments.
However Pence had made clear he had come to harbor severe reservations about Trump’s actions and his coverage stances.
“I consider anybody that places themselves over the Structure ought to by no means be president of the US and anybody who asks another person to place them over the Structure ought to by no means be president of the US once more,” he mentioned throughout his marketing campaign launch speech.
Because the marketing campaign progressed, he raised alarms in regards to the social gathering’s resistance to sending help to Ukraine and referred to as on his fellow Republicans to reject what he referred to as the “siren tune of populism” espoused by Trump and his followers.
Within the interview on Fox’s “The Story with Martha MacCallum,” Pence mentioned he was “extremely proud” of his and Trump’s document in workplace, however mentioned, “Throughout my presidential marketing campaign I made it clear that there have been profound variations between me and President Trump on a variety of points, and never simply our distinction on my Constitutional duties that I exercised on January the sixth.”
“I imply, as I’ve watched his candidacy unfold, I’ve seen him strolling away from our dedication to confronting the nationwide debt. I’ve seen him beginning to draw back from a dedication to the sanctity of human life,” he went on, additionally referencing what he referred to as Trump’s “reversal on getting powerful on China and supporting our administration’s effort to drive” the sale of the favored TikTok app.
“In every of those circumstances, Donald Trump is pursuing and articulating an agenda that’s at odds with the conservative agenda that we ruled on throughout our 4 years. And that is why I can not in conscience endorse Donald Trump on this marketing campaign,” he mentioned.
Pence declined to say whom he could be voting for – “I will maintain my vote to myself,” he mentioned – however made clear it would not be Biden.
“I’d by no means vote for Joe Biden,” he mentioned. “I am a Republican.”
“It ought to come as no shock that I can’t be endorsing Donald Trump this yr,” Pence mentioned in an interview with Fox Information Channel Friday, weighing in for the primary time because the former president grew to become the presumptive GOP nominee. Pence ran towards Trump for his or her social gathering’s nomination however dropped his bid earlier than voting started final yr.
The choice makes Pence the newest in a sequence of senior Trump administration officers who’ve declined to endorse their former boss’s bid to return to the Oval Workplace. Whereas Republican members of Congress and different GOP officers have largely rallied behind Trump, a vocal minority has continued to oppose his bid.
It additionally marks the tip of a metamorphosis for Pence, who had lengthy been seen as certainly one of Trump’s most loyal defenders however broke together with his two-time operating mate by refusing to associate with Trump’s unconstitutional scheme to attempt to stay in energy after shedding the 2020 election. When Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, attempting to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s win, Pence was pressured to flee to a Senate loading dock as rioters chanted, “Hold Mike Pence!” outdoors.
With a view to take part within the Republican major debates, Pence was required to signal a pledge saying that he would help the social gathering’s eventual nominee. And throughout the first debate in Milwaukee, Pence was among the many candidates who raised their fingers when requested whether or not they would help Trump even when he have been convicted in certainly one of his 4 prison indictments.
However Pence had made clear he had come to harbor severe reservations about Trump’s actions and his coverage stances.
“I consider anybody that places themselves over the Structure ought to by no means be president of the US and anybody who asks another person to place them over the Structure ought to by no means be president of the US once more,” he mentioned throughout his marketing campaign launch speech.
Because the marketing campaign progressed, he raised alarms in regards to the social gathering’s resistance to sending help to Ukraine and referred to as on his fellow Republicans to reject what he referred to as the “siren tune of populism” espoused by Trump and his followers.
Within the interview on Fox’s “The Story with Martha MacCallum,” Pence mentioned he was “extremely proud” of his and Trump’s document in workplace, however mentioned, “Throughout my presidential marketing campaign I made it clear that there have been profound variations between me and President Trump on a variety of points, and never simply our distinction on my Constitutional duties that I exercised on January the sixth.”
“I imply, as I’ve watched his candidacy unfold, I’ve seen him strolling away from our dedication to confronting the nationwide debt. I’ve seen him beginning to draw back from a dedication to the sanctity of human life,” he went on, additionally referencing what he referred to as Trump’s “reversal on getting powerful on China and supporting our administration’s effort to drive” the sale of the favored TikTok app.
“In every of those circumstances, Donald Trump is pursuing and articulating an agenda that’s at odds with the conservative agenda that we ruled on throughout our 4 years. And that is why I can not in conscience endorse Donald Trump on this marketing campaign,” he mentioned.
Pence declined to say whom he could be voting for – “I will maintain my vote to myself,” he mentioned – however made clear it would not be Biden.
“I’d by no means vote for Joe Biden,” he mentioned. “I am a Republican.”
