Tucker Carlson presses Mike Pence on Ukraine at Family Leadership Summit as crowd boos

The Family Leadership Summit kicked off Friday, drawing a half-dozen presidential candidates to a Des Moines gathering of animated and influential Christian conservatives ahead of the 2024 Iowa caucuses.

Hundreds packed a convention center conference room, watching a Christian music performance to begin the day. Family Leader President and CEO Bob Vander Plaats said the organization had sold more than 2,000 tickets.

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson is leading interviews with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former Vice President Mike Pence, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

Here's what happened so far:

Mike Pence pressed on support for Ukraine military assistance, thoughts on Jan. 6 riot

When former Vice President Mike Pence took the stage, Carlson pressed him about his support for sending military assistance to Ukraine.

Carlson drew applause from the audience as he suggested crime and suicide in U.S. cities have increased over the last several years and presidential candidates should be focused on that.

“Anybody that says that we can’t be the leader of the free world and solve our problems at home has a pretty small view of the greatest nation on earth,” Pence said. “We can do both.”

In an extensive back-and-forth with Carlson, Pence ardently defended his stance that the United States has an interest in supplying resources to Ukraine.

He noted his two trips to the country, having met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and religious leaders, and got pushback from Carlson and members of the crowd alike.

"I believe that it is in the interest of the United States of America to continue to give the Ukrainian military resources that they need to repel a Russian invasion and restore their sovereignty," Pence said.

The crowd booed in response.

Carlson also asked Pence if he would oppose Ukraine joining NATO. Pence said Ukraine shouldn’t be allowed to join until the war is over.

“I do believe that after the war is won and over that welcoming Ukraine into NATO, embracing them with open arms in the West is in the interest of our security and of our nation in the long term,” he said.

Asked by a reporter afterward if he was surprised that so much of the conversation focused on his stance on Ukraine, Pence said “I’m never really surprised by Tucker Carlson.”

“I welcome the opportunity to air out my belief that in the interest of our national security, it’s absolutely imperative that we continue to provide the Ukrainian military what they need to fight and repel the Russian invasion,” he said.

Carlson also pressed Pence on the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol.

“Do you think that was an insurrection?” Carlson asked.

“All I know for sure having lived through it at the Capitol, is that it was a tragic day,” Pence said. “I’ve never used the word insurrection, Tucker, over the last two years. But it was a riot that took place at the Capitol that day.”

Asked by Carlson if he would be open to getting rid of electronic voting machines, Pence said “I would certainly be open to that” but added it’s important that elections are run at the state level.

“If states were interested in going to all paper ballots, I would cheer them on,” Pence said. “If states were willing to use — with strong integrity — continue to use electronic voting machines, I’ll cheer them on. States should govern elections in America now and always.”

Asa Hutchinson defends veto of gender-affirming care restrictions and COVID actions

The former Arkansas governor spent much of his interview on defense, justifying his 2021 veto of a bill that would have put restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors in the state and his leadership during the pandemic.

Carlson, who has previously criticized Hutchinson for that veto, asked if in the last two years, Hutchinson had reconsidered his stance. Hutchinson stood by his decision.

"This bill did go too far, it was unconstitutional, it interfered with parents," he said. "Let's keep the government out of it except if it's that extreme case."

After several minutes of discussion, Hutchinson mentioned he hopes "we get to talk about some issues." Carlson responded that medical care for transgender children "is a central issue," prompting applause from the crowd.

The former Fox host also asked Hutchinson about "how many COVID shots" he got, and about his leadership during the early stages of the pandemic. The former governor touted keeping the state and businesses open and not embracing lockdown policies.

"Some decisions were not perfect, I had to make the best judgments I could," Hutchinson said.

Tim Scott: U.S. has vital interest in "genocide in Ukraine," must use "every tool available" on immigration

Scott, the first candidate to be interviewed by Carlson Friday, went back and forth on the role of the U.S. in the war in Ukraine, as well as how to curb immigration at the southern border.

The South Carolina senator said the U.S. has a "national vital interest in the conflict and genocide in Ukraine," criticizing President Joe Biden's "inability to articulate" that fact. He demurred when asked by Carlson whether he would stop the U.S. from sending cluster bombs to aid Ukraine, saying Biden had already done so.

And a brief discussion on drug addiction and homelessness turned to immigration when Scott called on a shutdown of the southern border to "stop fentanyl from crossing over."

"You use every tool available to stop fentanyl from coming across our border," Scott said, responding to a proposal from Carlson to put tariffs on Mexican industry. "No exceptions."

Toward the end of the interview, during which he frequently stood and paced the stage, Scott turned to aspects of his personal background, and spoke about turning away from the "drug of victimhood" and "narcotic of despair."

"My life disproves the lies of the radical forces that believe that we should be in constant conflict," Scott said.

As Tucker Carlson interviews GOP challengers, Trump is absent amid questions on his Iowa support

The former Fox host, who now posts shorter episodes of a show on Twitter, has publicly sparred with several of the candidates over various issues, including the war in Ukraine; the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots; and LGBTQ issues — creating the potential for sharp exchanges as the candidates take the stage.

More: Des Moines Register Candidate tracker

But one candidate, former President Donald Trump, will be noticeably absent.

Trump was invited but declined the invitation. He is instead speaking at the Turning Point Action conference.

Vander Plaats said he thinks Trump’s decision is unwise.

“If I'm consulting Donald Trump … I would do everything you can to be at a leadership summit in front of arguably the most influential base in the Iowa caucuses,” he said. “And especially when you have a very generous host like a Tucker Carlson who will be interviewing you. But those are choices everybody makes, right? So I don't agree with those choices, but those are his choices.”

Evangelicals comprise 64% of Republican caucusgoers in 2016, according to caucus entrance polling. And they’ve helped propel candidates such as Pat Roberts, Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum to caucus night victories.

In 2016, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz mobilized evangelical caucusgoers, and they supported him 34% to 22% over Trump, helping to push him over the finish line.

More: Republican presidential candidates woo Iowa's pivotal evangelicals to pry them away from Trump

But Trump’s relationship with Vander Plaats has been strained since the 2016 cycle, when he took to Twitter to call Vander Plaats a “phony” and a “bad guy”.

This caucus cycle, Vander Plaats has said he believes it’s time for the Republican Party to move on from Trump.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds — who Trump also targeted on Twitter this week — will also attend. She plans to sign Iowa’s just-passed six-week “fetal heartbeat” abortion ban into law at the conference.

Vander Plaats said abortion is “a cornerstone issue” for the Family Leader, and he said he’s excited that Reynolds chose to sign the bill at Friday’s event.

“The attendees of the leadership summit, they're big fans of Gov. Kim Reynolds. They're 100% for the sanctity of human life,” he said. “So I really think it's a win-win. I think Gov. Reynolds sees this as a thank you for all the help and support that this group has been to them — not the Family Leader, but what this audience has been to her. And it's a great way to champion a culture of life in a very visible way.”

Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at bpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on Twitter at @brianneDMR.

Galen Bacharier covers politics and the Trump campaign in Iowa for the Register. Reach him at gbacharier@registermedia.com or (573) 219-7440, and follow him on Twitter @galenbacharier.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: GOP candidates flock to Family Leadership Summit in Iowa, sans Trump