Pence claimed that Trump, who wanted him lynched for refusing to overturn a legitimate election, is the victim of “a political persecution” by New York prosecutors but he also made it clear he does not think Trump should be re-elected.
Former Vice President Mike Pence appeared on Fox News’ Your World show yesterday. Host Neil Cavuto asked about the recent Trump indictment, “You said this is a criminalization of politics in this country, but it is, sir, a 34-count indictment. So do you think you might have spoken too soon?”
No, the guy whom Trump reportedly said “deserves” the “Hang Mike Pence” chants on January 6, 2021 portrayed Trump as a big victim. “Look, Neil, the unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States on a campaign finance issue is outrageous,” Pence said. “The details that follow will not change that fact.”
FACT CHECK: Nobody knows for sure what the charges against Trump are yet. But CNN has reported he faces 30 counts of business fraud related to the hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump’s then-attorney, Michael Cohen, paid her $130,000 out of his own funds and was repaid by the Trump Organization that amount plus $290,000 more to cover his tax liabilities and reward him with a bonus. “The Trump Organization noted the reimbursements as a legal expense in its internal books,” CNN noted.
In other words, the indictment is about fraud and corruption, not a campaign finance accounting error, as Pence suggested.
“It’s a political prosecution by a Manhattan DA who literally campaigned for office on a pledge to indict the former president,” Pence said. “The attorney general of New York campaigned for office on a pledge to go after that same American. This is not an expression of equal treatment under the law that every American deserves.”
Actually, Pence was the one arguing for unequal treatment as he seemed to think Trump should be above the law. Pence described the “deeply unfortunate” case as “one more example of this two-tiered justice system that has so many Americans literally questioning the fundamental fairness of the administration of justice in this country.” Never mind that Trump has a long history of corruption.
Pence further suggested that the substance of the case, i.e. fraud, should be ignored and instead, “consider the source here, and that is a liberal Democrat partisan prosecutor who initially passed on bringing these charges. Federal prosecutors who reviewed the same facts ... did pass on bringing charges.”
FACT CHECK: The federal prosecutors’ decision not to prosecute Trump reportedly had nothing to do with Trump’s guilt or innocence.
“Again, I think this just smacks of the kind of criminalization that the American people have had enough of,” Pence added. He whined about “one set of standards for conservatives and Republicans, one set of standards for Democrats.” He predicted that next year voters will effect “tremendous change” by “electing people from local prosecutors’ offices to the highest office in the land that will stand on that principle of the rule of law.”
Cavuto challenged Pence, saying that Republicans “rightly so at the time targeted Bill Clinton for an affair with a woman,” and questioned whether Pence isn’t “looking the other way when it involves something like that now.”
Pence replied that he hasn’t heard people “talking about this issue on either side,” as he has been traveling around the country.
Nevertheless, Pence seems to oppose attempts by House Republicans to interfere in the New York case. He said, “I’m somebody who believes in federalism, and as wrong as this DA is, I have a check in my spirit about the federal government becoming involved in even wrongheaded local law enforcement or prosecutions. So, I want our friends in the Congress to be judicious about that” and to “temper their inquiries.”
As for his own potential presidential run, Pence said “these developments and others like them” will play no part in “our decision.” He said he and his wife “are giving prayerful consideration to entering the race” and are “coming close to making a decision.”
But all Pence’s Trump defending does not mean he and Trump have remained buds. Though Pence claimed the two “parted amicably” after Pence refused to overturn the election, “We’ve gone our separate ways,” Pence said, and he has not spoken to Trump since moving back to Indiana.
More significantly, Pence said pointedly, “I honestly believe we'll have better choices by the fall of 2024,” and “Different times call for different leadership.”
Not mentioned in the discussion: According to a recent NPR/PBS/Maris poll, 6 in 10 Americans don’t want Trump to be president again. “By a 56-41 margin, respondents said the investigations are fair and not a ‘witch hunt.’” By a combined 75%, people say Trump has either done something illegal or unethical. A Quinnipiac poll found that 57% “believe the charges against Trump should disqualify him from running for president again.”
You can watch Pence below, from the March 31, 2023 Your World.
PS: am enjoying the DeSantis/Disney cock-up.