Tag: Mike Pence

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Pence Won’t Endorse Trump For President

Mike Pence’s statement marks a significant departure from his previous alignment with his former running mate and the president he served alongside.

Former Vice President Mike Pence made a surprising declaration on Friday (local time), stating that he “cannot in good conscience,” endorse presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, CNN reported.

This statement marks a significant departure from his previous alignment with his former running mate and the president he served alongside.

“Donald Trump is pursuing and articulating an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda that we governed on during our four years. That’s why I cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump in this campaign,” Pence said on Fox News.

Pence articulated his stance during an appearance on Fox News, expressing concern over the disparity between Trump’s current agenda and the conservative principles they upheld during their four years in office.

Although Pence refrained from endorsing any candidate in the 2024 Republican primary following the end of his own presidential bid in October, he had previously committed to supporting the eventual GOP nominee. Trump had urged Pence to endorse him after the former vice president withdrew from the race, emphasising his role in elevating Pence to the vice presidency.

“I chose him, made him vice president. But … people in politics can be very disloyal,” Trump had said.

While Pence expressed pride in the accomplishments of the Trump-Pence administration, he highlighted areas where he believes Trump has deviated from conservative principles. He cited Trump’s positions on abortion, the national debt, and the recent reversal on TikTok as examples of this departure.

“During my presidential campaign, I made it clear there were profound differences between me and President Trump on a range of issues. And not just our difference on my constitutional duties that I exercised January 6th,” Pence said on ‘The Story with Martha MacCallum’.

“As I have watched his candidacy unfold, I’ve seen him walking away from our commitment to confronting the national debt. I’ve seen him starting to shy away from a commitment to the sanctity of human life. And this last week, his reversal on getting tough on China and supporting our administration’s efforts to force a sale of ByteDance’s TikTok,” he added, as reported by CNN.

Addressing his own voting intentions in the 2024 general election, Pence opted to keep his choice private, stating, “I’ll keep my vote to myself.” He affirmed that he would not support President Joe Biden and indicated a reluctance to endorse a third-party candidate.

Pence’s break with Trump extends beyond policy differences. Notably, Pence declined to overturn the 2020 election results while presiding over Congress’ certification of Biden’s victory on January 6, 2021. He later criticised Trump for his role in inciting the violence that unfolded at the Capitol that day, asserting that Trump’s “reckless words” endangered lives.

Throughout his own presidential campaign, Pence cautioned against the allure of populism embodied by Trump and his followers. Recently, Pence’s advocacy group, Advancing American Freedom, announced a USD 20 million initiative aimed at promoting conservative policies, CNN reported. (ANI)

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Pence ready to challenge Trump in debate

Pence is preparing for a mighty showdown with his former boss Trump in the first Republican debate …reports Asian Lite News

Former US Vice President Mike Pence, humiliated by former President Donald Trump as a “wimp” for not invoking the 25th amendment to keep him in office and oust Joe Biden, is seeking to exact revenge next week in the widely publicised TV debate of republican hopefuls by denying the 2020 election was stolen and that he had no part in the conspiracy and that he upheld the constitution and knew his limits of power.

Pence is preparing for a mighty showdown with his former boss Trump in the first Republican debate where eight candidates have qualified for crossing the threshold limits, even if Trump doesn’t show up. 

Pence said he would sign the loyalty pledge which under the RNC convention requires every candidate to support the eventual nominee picked by the GOP for presidency,  multiple media reports said. 

In a Fox News interview at the Iowa state fair, Mike Pence appeared ready to face off with his former boss at next week’s first Republican presidential nomination debate — whether his former running mate is on the stage or not. 

“I’m looking forward to the opportunity to be on that stage,” Pence had told Fox News Digital in an interview in New Hampshire.
 
For four years in the White House and on the campaign trail, Pence was the then-president’s loyal co-pilot. But that all ended on January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the US capitol. 

The attack temporarily disrupted congressional certification of President Biden’s 2020 Electoral College victory over Trump, the subject of the four indictments handed down to Trump by juries at the federal and state level (Atlanta in Georgia) .

Pence, who was at the Capitol at the time it was attacked, overseeing the joint session of Congress was forced, along with members of Congress to temporarily flee to safety as the rioters — some chanting that the then-vice president should be hanged — stormed the building, Politico reported. 

After witnessing the unprecedented scene, Pence endured the wrath of the former president and plenty of Trump’s most devout loyalists and supporters. Now, in the wake of Trump’s back-to-back indictments in connection with the attack on the Capitol and his alleged efforts to try and overturn the 2020 election, Pence is raising the pitch about his role in not listening to Trump’s legal counsels on the 25th amendment and doing the right thing in calling the national guard to quell the mob.

Though initially Pence was proud of Trump’s record in administration, he said, the president and I took a different path in the end, and sadly, in the last two and a half years, the former president has continued to maintain that I had the right to overturn the election. I had no right to overturn the election. 

“If the American people hear us out, they know that we kept our oath to the Constitution. I’m confident more and more Americans every day are understanding the stand that we took and appreciating our commitment to keep the oath that we made to them and to almighty God.”

Pence had said “my differences with him go far beyond that fateful day (January 6, 2021)”. 

ALSO READ: Georgia election was not stolen: Pence

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Pence challenges GOP rivals to back 15-week abortion ban

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Mike Pence, who has long made his evangelical faith central to his political identity, is one of the few Republican candidates to have spoken unequivocally about his support for such a ban.

Former US Vice President Mike Pence, who has declared his bid for the 2024 presidential election, challenged his Republican Party rivals to support a 15-week national abortion ban.

Addressing the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s annual conference in Washington D.C. on Friday, Pence said: “Let me say from my heart — the cause of life is the calling of our time and we must not rest and must not relent until we restore the sanctity of life to the centre of American law in every state in this country.”

The former Vice President, who has long made his evangelical faith central to his political identity, is one of the few Republican candidates to have spoken unequivocally about his support for such a ban, the BBC reported.

He further told the gathering that every Republican candidate for President should support 15 weeks “as a minimum nationwide standard” on abortion.

After the US Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in the country last June, anti-abortion groups are trying to make a federal ban a key 2024 election issue.

Opinion polls have suggested that a majority of Americans back some form of legal abortion access, though public support for the procedure being legal drops notably by the end of the second trimester of a pregnancy.

Demonstrators protest against the Supreme Court’s overturning of the Roe vs. Wade abortion-rights ruling in San Francisco, California, the United States, on June 24, 2022. (Photo by Li Jianguo/Xinhua/IANS)

Some Republican candidates are however, wary of backing a 15-week pledge.

President Joe Biden, a Democrat, is expected to make abortion a central issue in his re-election campaign.

About 25 million women of child-bearing age live in a state with restricted or non-existent abortion services since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade last June.

Sensing the political risks, many Republican presidential candidates have skirted the issue of abortion bans.

Former President Donald Trump, whose conservative appointments to the Supreme Court paved the way for the US right to abortion being overturned, has backed away from endorsing a specific national ban, the BBC reported.

Former South Carolina Governor and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley has called a federal ban impossible.

Meanwhile, voters are also split on the issue. A February PRRI poll suggested that 44 per cent of Americans would support a 15-week ban on abortion, while 52 per cent opposed such a law.

A federal abortion ban would also have to pass both chambers of Congress and Republican efforts to pass such a law have failed in the past.

ALSO READ: Classified documents row rattles Trump, sparks GOP disapproval

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Mike Pence begins 2024 campaign, hit out at Trump

Pence joins a growing field of Republican hopefuls, which so far has been dominated by Trump and DeSantis….reports Asian Lite News

Washington, June 8 (IANS) After months of speculation, former US Vice President Mike Pence has finally launched his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination and said that Donald Trump “should never” be the President again for his actions in the aftermath of the 2020 polls.

At his formal campaign launch on Wednesday in Ankeny, Iowa, the 64-year-old recalled how his former boss, who he served under in the White House from 2017-21, had asked him to block the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election win as Pence presided over Congress on January 6, 2021 — the day of the Capitol riot, reports CNN.

“The American people deserve to know, on that day, President Trump also demanded I choose between him and the Constitution. Now voters will be faced with the same choice. I chose the Constitution, and I always will,” Pence said to applause from the crowd at Des Moines Area Community College.

“I believe that anyone who 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,” Pence said of Trump who is currently the front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination.

This was Pence’s most forceful repudiation of Trump to date.

“The former President continues to insist that I had the right to overturn the election. President Trump was wrong then, and he is wrong now. I will always believe, by God’s grace, I did my duty on that day, I kept my oath, to ensure the peaceful transfer of power under the Constitution and the laws of this country,” he said.

The former Indiana Governor also took shots at President Biden, arguing that neither he nor Trump are similar to average Americans who know how to “treat each other with kindness and respect even when we disagree”, the BBC reported.

Also hitting out at another Republican 2024 rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for his recent remarks about the war in Ukraine, Pence said: “Donald Trump and others who would seek the presidency would walk away from our traditional role on the world stage.”

At a CNN town hall later in the day in Des Moines, Pence repeated his criticism, but on the subject of Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents, he said it would “be terribly divisive to the country” if the former president were to be indicted by federal investigators over his actions and a possible obstruction of justice.

“This kind of action by the Department of Justice (DOJ) I think would only fuel further division in the country… I hope the DOJ thinks better of it and resolves these issues without an indictment,” he added.

Pence joins a growing field of Republican hopefuls, which so far has been dominated by Trump and DeSantis.

On Tuesday, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a onetime Trump ally who helped him prepare for the 2020 presidential debates, announced his candidacy.

The other in the running are former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott.

On Wednesday, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum also announced that he was entering the race.

ALSO READ: It’s Official: Mike Pence enters 2024 White House race

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Pence to resist special counsel subpoena

Pence is set to argue on the grounds that he was president of the Senate at the time and therefore shielded from the order…reports Asian Lite News

Former US Vice President Mike Pence is preparing to fight a recent subpoena for testimony from the special counsel investigating former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.

The former vice president and his lawyers intend to cite constitutional grounds as they prepare to resist Special Counsel Jack Smith‘s efforts to compel his testimony before a grand jury.

Pence is set to argue on the grounds that he was president of the Senate at the time and therefore shielded from the order, CNN reported.

Investigators want the former vice president to testify about his interactions with Trump leading up to the 2020 election and the day of the attack on the US Capitol.

Pence allies say he is covered by the constitutional provision that protects congressional officials from legal proceedings related to their work — language known as the “speech or debate” clause, Politico reported.

According to the report, the clause, Pence allies say, legally binds federal prosecutors from compelling Pence to testify about the central components of Smith’s investigation. If Pence testifies, they say, it could jeopardize the separation of powers that the Constitution seeks to safeguard.

All this is happening when the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently found an additional classified file during a search of Pence’s home in Indiana.

In a statement, Devin O’Malley, an adviser to Pence, said that the former Vice President agreed to the consensual search and the additional file were removed following “a thorough and unrestricted search”.

“The Department of Justice completed a thorough and unrestricted search of five hours and removed one document with classified markings and six additional pages without such markings that were not discovered in the initial review by the vice-president’s counsel,” O’Malley added.

This development follows disclosures by Pence’s attorneys that they found “a small number” of classified files from his Vice-Presidency at the home last month.

This is also the latest development in a growing controversy over classified documents that has already embroiled both former President Donald Trump and incumbent President Joe Biden.

Trump faces a criminal investigation for allegedly mishandling classified documents, while Biden faces a probe by the US Department of Justice.

To date, about 300 classified documents have been recovered from Trump since his administration ended.

While Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and claimed that he declassified any documents he took when he left the White House, Biden has said that his team did “what they should have done” by alerting officials immediately when classified files were found and that he is co-operating with the special counsel’s investigation, the BBC reported.

ALSO READ: Indian-American appointed to panel on racism, health discrimination

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Additional Classified File Found at Pence’s Home

The search by FBI was reportedly not linked to other investigations into classified files, reports Asian Lite News

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has found an additional classified file during a search of former US Vice President Mike Pence’s home in Indiana.

The search was conducted by FBI agents from Indianapolis and is not currently linked to other investigations into classified files, the BBC reported.

In a statement on Friday, Devin O’Malley, an adviser to Pence, said that the former Vice President agreed to the consensual search and the additional file were removed following “a thorough and unrestricted search”.

“The Department of Justice completed a thorough and unrestricted search of five hours and removed one document with classified markings and six additional pages without such markings that were not discovered in the initial review by the vice-president’s counsel,” O’Malley added.

Friday’s development follows disclosures by Pence’s attorneys that they found “a small number” of classified files from his Vice-Presidency at the home last month.

This is also the latest development in a growing controversy over classified documents that has already embroiled both former President Donald Trump and incumbent President Joe Biden.

Trump faces a criminal investigation for allegedly mishandling classified documents, while Biden faces a probe by the US Department of Justice.

To date, about 300 classified documents have been recovered from Mr Trump since his administration ended.

While Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and claimed that he declassified any documents he took when he left the White House, Biden has said that his team did “what they should have done” by alerting officials immediately when classified files were found and that he is co-operating with the special counsel’s investigation, the BBC reported.

A spokesperson for Pence told CNN on Friday that he was away during the FBI search, though a private attorney was present at the house.

In January, representatives for Pence sent a letter to the National Archives — the US government agency that manages the preservation of presidential records — alerting them that they had found classified documents in his home.

Those materials have already been handed over to the FBI.

Classified records are supposed to go to the National Archives once an administration leaves office.

ALSO READ: Special counsel probing Trump subpoenas Mike Pence