Mike Pence won't endorse Donald Trump, former VP notes 'profound differences'
David JacksonFormer Vice President Mike Pence said Friday he would not endorse Donald Trump for another term in the White House, saying his ex boss has strayed too far from conservative philosophy.
"It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year," Pence told Fox News' Martha MacCallum.
Pence, who was attacked by Trump after he rebuffed the then-president's pressure to block the certification of Joe Biden's election in January 2021, noted "profound differences between me and President Trump on a range of issues, and not just our difference on my constitutional duties that I exercised on January the 6th."
Pence’s comments underscore Trump’s problems with some Republican voters. Supporters of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley have said they will not support Trump in the fall, and Haley herself has also refused to endorse the former president. While Trump still figures to win the vast majority of GOP voters, even a small number of defections could make the difference in closely contested states.
Pence, the former governor of Indiana, made his own run for president this year But he flamed out early in a primary contest dominated by Trump, with Nikki Haley and Ron Desantis consuming the campaign trail's remaining oxygen.
"Look, I'm incredibly proud of the record of our administration," Pence said Friday. "It was a conservative record that made America more prosperous, more secure, and saw conservatives appointed to our courts, and a more peaceful world."
But that wasn't enough to persuade Pence to get on the 2024 MAGA train.
Pence also said he would not vote for President Joe Biden. He would not say who he would vote for in the presidential election.
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"I mean, as I have watched his candidacy unfold, I have seen him walking away from our commitment to confronting the national debt," he said. "I have seen him starting to shy away from a commitment to the sanctity of human life, and, this last week, his reversal on getting tough on China and supporting our administration's effort to force a sale" of TikTok.
Pence was rushed to a secret, secure location in the Capitol complex as rioting Trump supporters − some shouting "Hang Mike Pence!" − invaded on Jan. 6, 2021, interrupting certification of Biden's election.
"Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done," Trump tweeted at 2:24pm that afternoon.
Pence said Trump has gone too far astray from the goals of conservative leaders.
“Donald Trump is pursuing and articulating an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda that we governed on during our four years,” Pence said. “And that's why I cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump in this campaign.”