Former Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday refused to say whether if elected president in 2024 he would pardon former President Donald Trump should he be convicted of a crime.
“I don’t want to speak about hypotheticals,” Pence, 64, told CNN town hall moderator Dana Bash in front of a crowd in Des Moines, Iowa, when asked about a potential pardon for the 76-year-old former president.
“I’m not sure I’m going to be elected president of the United States. I believe we have a fighting chance. I really believe we do,” he demurred.
Trump is facing 34 felony charges in Manhattan related to an alleged hush money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. He is also reportedly close to being indicted in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into his alleged mishandling of classified documents.
Pence, who served as Trump’s vice president, announced the launch of his 2024 White House campaign earlier Wednesday, on his 64th birthday – becoming the first vice president in modern US history to challenge his former boss.
When Bash pressed Pence on a potential Trump pardon, the former vice president quipped, “You’re as persistent as ever. CNN is living up to its reputation.”
“There are real issues the American people are facing, and rather than talking about that, I want to talk about what the people here in Iowa are talking about, which is the failed policies of the Biden administration and the need for us to have new leadership in the White House and in our party,” he continued, shutting down Bash’s line of questioning.
Earlier in the town hall, Pence expressed his “hope” that the federal grand jury hearing evidence against Trump in the classified document case decides against indicting the former president, arguing that it would be a “drastic and divisive step.”
“I think it would also send a terrible message to the wider world,” Pence said of a potential second Trump indictment. “I mean, we’re the emblem of democracy. We’re the symbol of justice in the world and this is a serious matter, which has already happened once in New York, of indicting a former president of the United States, it sends a terrible message to the world. I hope the DOJ thinks better of it or resolves these issues without an indictment.”
“I would just hope that there would be a way for them to move forward without the dramatic and drastic and divisive step of indicting a former president of the United States,” Pence added. “We’ve got to find a way to move our country forward and restore confidence in equal treatment under the law in this country.”