Former Vice President Mike Pence wouldn't say he would support former President Donald Trump, his onetime boss, if Trump eventually became the GOP's presidential nominee next year during an interview on CNN's State of the Union.
When host Dana Bash questioned if Pence would rule out voting for Trump, Pence replied, "Dana, I tell you, I don’t think we’ll have to make that decision."
"I’m confident I’ll be able to support the Republican nominee, especially if it’s me,” Pence continued during his interview with Bash. “I will tell you, I’m confident as they've done so many times before. Republican primary voters are going to choose new leadership for a new time in the life of our nation. We simply have got to move our country forward.”
The two running mates, now turned 2024 rivals, have ratcheted up their attacks against one another after a special counsel unveiled a third indictment against Trump over his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential results and the subsequent Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Pence, in particular, has stressed on the campaign trail that he put his duty to the Constitution over Trump's efforts to pressure him not to certify the 2020 results. He again reiterated those comments on Sunday.
"President Trump was wrong then, and he's wrong now. I had no right to overturn the election," Pence told Bash. "I truly do believe that we kept our oath to the Constitution that day. But the American people deserve to know that President Trump asked me to put him over my oath to the Constitution, but I kept my oath, and I always will."
Moments after reiterating that he doesn't think Trump should be president because he rejected the constitution, Pence doesn't rule out supporting him again in 2024 pic.twitter.com/zfAiOZqejE
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 6, 2023
The former vice president has consistently polled in the single digits, far below Trump's commanding lead over the GOP primary. But Pence has continued to trumpet his efforts to protect the Constitution and move beyond Trump as a key messaging strategy in his presidential campaign.
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"I really do believe that there's a lot of Republicans that know we not only need new leadership in the White House, but we need new leadership in the Republican Party," Pence also told Bash. "I mean, we can't endure four more years of the failed and feckless leadership of President Joe Biden and the Democrats in the Senate. We've got to turn this thing around."
Trump, not one to take public defections lightly, took to his social media platform Truth Social to slam Pence over the weekend. "WOW, it’s finally happened! Liddle’ Mike Pence, a man who was about to be ousted as Governor Indiana until I came along and made him V.P., has gone to the Dark Side," he wrote. "I never told a newly emboldened (not based on his 2% poll numbers!) Pence to put me above the Constitution, or that Mike was 'too honest.' He’s delusional, and now he wants to show he’s a tough guy."