As former President Trump’s legal troubles mount, Mike Pence says he will not tell his ex-boss that he should suspend his campaign if he is indicted, saying that any such decision is up to Trump himself.
“Look, it’s a free country. Everybody can make their own decisions,” Trump’s former No. 2 told reporters in New Hampshire before turning back to his own 2024 ruminations.
The pass from Pence comes as he ramps up criticism of his former boss on other matters. And it suggests that Trump’s major competitors in the 2024 GOP presidential primary will try to steer clear of his mounting legal problems.
But Pence kept up the harsher criticism of Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021, in a speech that he delivered at the recent Gridiron dinner in Washington, in which he said history would hold the former president “accountable” for the riot.
Pence’s comments were in response to Trump’s comments during his own campaign event in Iowa, where the former POTUS sought to place blame for Jan. 6 onto his VP. But Pence parried back on in New Hampshire.
“I know our former president has said I had the right to overturn the election, but Donald Trump is wrong,” Pence said. “I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency belongs to the American people, and the American people alone.”
The former VP also continued to push back against another potential rival, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, for calling Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a “territorial dispute” — though he didn’t use his name.
“Let me be very clear: The Russian invasion is not a territorial dispute. It was an act of unprovoked aggression against a sovereign nation. And it must be met with American strength,” Pence said. But, he added to applause, “we should not send service members into harm’s way in Ukraine.”
Pence’s appearance at the Cheshire County Republican dinner marked his first trip this year back to the first-in-the-nation GOP primary state.