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Former US Vice President Mike Pence has ruled out endorsing Donald Trump – his ex-boss – in this year’s presidential election.
Speaking on Fox News, Pence said: “It will come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year.”
He said his former boss “is pursuing and articulating an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda that we governed on during our four years”.
But in a blow to Trump’s adversary, Pence said: “I’m going to keep my vote to myself – I would never vote for Joe Biden.”
Pence told Fox News “I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year”Reuters/PATrump has received endorsements from Primary opponents, Republican ‘big names’ and senior policymakers alike, including Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz, Ron DeSantis and Marjorie Taylor Greene.
But a lack of endorsement from Pence, one half of the duo which stormed to power in 2016, will be seen by some as a blow to Trump’s legitimacy – especially among more ‘traditional’ Republicans.
His remarks come just days after Trump clinched the Republican nomination by securing delegates from Georgia, Hawaii, Washington and Mississippi.
The ex-Potus – as well as incumbent Joe Biden – will have their nominations officially confirmed later in the year: Trump’s, at the Republican National Convention in July in Milwaukee, and Biden’s, at August’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
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Pence said his former boss was “pursuing and articulating an agenda” that was at odds with the pair’s policies in power
Reuters
Pence also said: “During my presidential campaign, I made it clear that there were profound differences between me and President Trump on a range of issues – and not just our differences on my constitutional duties that I exercised on January 6th.
“As I’ve 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.”
The former Vice President was coy on his eventual choice, however, adding: “Like most Americans, I’m going to keep my vote to myself… I would never vote for Joe Biden, but how I vote when that curtain closes – that’ll be for me.”
When asked about a third party – for example, Robert F Kennedy Jr – Pence said: “What I can tell you is that where I’m gonna spend my energies is on making sure that my fellow Republicans, Independents and many Democrats throughout the country know that it is a commitment to limited government, the Constitution, to a strong defence and American leadership in the world, and a commitment to traditional values that’s always made this country prosperous and free – I’m going to advocate for that.”
Pence’s comments on the January 6 Capitol attack reference the moment the then-VP flipped on Trump – he had been overseeing the certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory when rioters chanting “hang Mike Pence” entered the building.
At the time, Trump said on social media: “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify.”
Pence also took shots at Trump for reversing his position on TikTok. The former president had signed an executive order to ban the part-Chinese-owned app, but now opposes any such ban.
The House of Representatives passed a bill this week which aims to strong-arm parent company ByteDance to sell TikTok to a non-Chinese entity within 165 days — or face a total ban from app stores and web hosts in the US.
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