Trump signals he won't run with Pence in 2024

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Former President Donald Trump all but ruled out choosing his former vice president, Mike Pence, as a running mate were he to run again in 2024.

“I don’t think the people would accept it,” Trump told the Washington Examiner in an interview published Wednesday.

Trump pointed to Pence’s refusal to go along with his request to overturn the 2020 election, which Trump lost but continues to insist he won. Trump argues that Pence could have stopped the certification of then-President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College win on Jan. 6, 2021. Pence and legal experts say Trump’s interpretation of constitutional law is incorrect. Some members of Trump’s base have also apparently soured on Pence. When Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building on Jan. 6, some of them chanted “Hang Mike Pence” as they searched for the vice president, who was escorted to safety by the Secret Service.

Mike Pence and Donald Trump.
Presidential candidate Donald Trump and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence in Westfield, Ind., on July 12, 2016. (Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images)

“Mike and I had a great relationship except for the very important factor that took place at the end,” Trump told the Examiner. “We had a very good relationship. I haven’t spoken to him in a long time.”

The selection of the religiously conservative Pence in the summer of 2016 was seen as a move by Trump to shore up support among evangelicals. At the time, Pence was serving as governor of Indiana following a decade-plus serving in the House of Representatives. To begin their final year in office, Trump appointed Pence as his administration’s lead on the coronavirus in February 2020.

Since leaving office, Pence has occasionally taken shots at Trump. Earlier this month, speaking at a convention of top Republican donors, Pence said, “There is no room in this party for apologists for Putin.” Pence did not mention Trump by name, but the former president has showered praise on Russian President Vladimir Putin for years, including in the run-up to the autocrat’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

Pence’s maneuvering — including a visit to the Polish-Ukrainian border to help refugees and traveling to Israel with a top GOP donor — has led to speculation that he may be considering a presidential bid of his own in two years. Early polling for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination has found that Trump still has majority support, with Pence and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a statistical tie for a distant second. In an interview with Fox Business last week, Pence did not rule out a run.

“I’m confident the Republican Party will nominate a candidate who will be the next president of the United States of America, and at the right time, my family and I will reflect and consider how we might participate in that process,” Pence said.