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President Donald J. Trump’s vice president, Mike Pence, is running behind the Republican presidential nominee on Friday, like Trump’s previous rivals, including Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy and Tim Scott. He indicated that he had no intention of lining up.
“I cannot in good conscience support Trump,” Pence said on Fox News when asked if he would support former President Trump now that he has secured the party’s nomination.
“It’s no surprise that I’m not supporting Donald Trump this year,” he said on Martha MacCallum’s “The Story.”
The former vice president declined to say whether he would vote for Trump in the November election, but said, “I will never vote for Joe Biden.” He also said he remains a Republican and ruled out running for president as a third party or independent candidate.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
Pence said in a statement late Friday that while he was honored to serve with Trump, he echoed some of his criticisms in the Fox News interview. “Sadly, over the past several years, I have watched former presidents turn away from our conservative policies,” he said.
In less than five months as the Republican presidential nominee, Mr. Pence struggled to win over voters who remained loyal to Mr. Trump.
He has repeatedly criticized Trump’s actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, while also trying to take credit for the Trump-Pence administration’s performance in areas such as the economy and judicial appointments.
Pence has angered Trump and his supporters by refusing to carry out Trump’s request to block the certification of the 2020 election results.
“During the presidential campaign, President Trump and I made it clear that we have significant differences on a variety of issues, not just regarding the constitutional duties we exercised on January 6th,” he said. stated in an interview. Fox News.
Pence said he was disappointed that Trump was no longer focused on reducing the national debt and other issues important to conservatives.
“As I’ve watched his candidacy unfold, I’ve seen him move away from our promise to fight the national debt,” he said in an interview. “I have seen him begin to shy away from his commitment to the sanctity of human life, and last week I have seen him take a tough stance on China and try to force the sale of ByteDance’s TikTok application. The government has completely changed its stance to support the efforts of our administration.”
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