Former Vice President Mike Pence, in Chicago on Monday, threw some jabs at former President Donald Trump — a potential 2024 rival — and said he should apologize for meeting with a white nationalist and antisemite.
“President Trump was wrong to give a white nationalist, an antisemite and a Holocaust denier, a seat at the table and I think he should apologize for it,” Pence told NewsNation on Monday.
The reference was to Trump’s dinner at his Mar-a-Largo estate in Florida with the rapper formerly known as Kanye West and Nick Fuentes, the west suburban Chicagoan who is building a movement around his antisemitic and white supremacist views.
Pence, at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, was asked by Ivo Daalder, the group’s president, if he would back Trump — who already declared his 2024 bid — should he become the GOP nominee. Pence said there were “better people” for the job.
The former vice president, in Chicago to promote his new memoir, “So Help Me God,” hasn’t ruled out a 2024 run.
“I promise I’ll keep you posted … but we’ll go where we’re called,” Pence said. “We’ll search our hearts and answer that question after the first of the year.”
The discussion covered a wide range of topics, from the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol to foreign policy and trade during the Trump-Pence administration.
Pence detailed his “simmering indignation” during the insurrection.
“I was not afraid, I had great confidence in the Capitol Hill police, I had great confidence in our Secret Service team,” he said. “But I was angry … when I looked at the scenes coming across the screens and the small television set. ... I just thought ‘Not this, not here, not in America.”
On the day of the Capitol riot, Pence condemned the violence and worked to confirm the results of the 2020 presidential election as Trump took to Twitter and fueled the rioters. Pence said Trump was “part of the problem” where Pence attempted to be part of the solution.
Contributing: Associated Press
