NEW YORK (AP) — 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 12 months,” Pence stated in an interview with Fox Information Channel Friday, weighing in for the primary time because the former president turned the presumptive GOP nominee. Pence ran in opposition to Trump for his or her get together’s nomination however dropped his bid earlier than voting started final 12 months.
The choice makes Pence the newest in a collection 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 top of a metamorphosis for Pence, who had lengthy been seen as certainly one of Trump’s most loyal defenders however broke along with his two-time working mate by refusing to go together 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, making an attempt to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s win, Pence was pressured to flee to a Senate loading dock as rioters chanted, “Cling Mike Pence!” outdoors.
In an effort to take part within the Republican main debates, Pence was required to signal a pledge saying that he would assist the get together’s eventual nominee. And in the course of the first debate in Milwaukee, Pence was among the many candidates who raised their palms when requested whether or not they would assist Trump even when he have been convicted in certainly one of his 4 felony indictments.
However Pence had made clear he had come to harbor severe reservations about Trump’s actions and his coverage stances.
“I imagine anybody that places themselves over the Structure ought to by no means be president of america and anybody who asks another person to place them over the Structure ought to by no means be president of america once more,” he stated throughout his marketing campaign launch speech.
Because the marketing campaign progressed, he raised alarms in regards to the get together’s resistance to sending support to Ukraine and known as on his fellow Republicans to reject what he known as the “siren track of populism” espoused by Trump and his followers.
Within the interview on Fox’s “The Story with Martha MacCallum,” Pence stated he was “extremely proud” of his and Trump’s file in workplace, however stated, “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 shrink back from a dedication to the sanctity of human life,” he went on, additionally referencing what he known as Trump’s “reversal on getting powerful on China and supporting our administration’s effort to power” 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’s why I can’t in conscience endorse Donald Trump on this marketing campaign,” he stated.
Pence declined to say whom he can be voting for — “I’m going to maintain my vote to myself,” he stated — however made clear it wouldn’t be Biden.
“I might by no means vote for Joe Biden,” he stated. “I’m a Republican.”