Former Vice President Mike Pence said he thinks there are “better choices” than former President Donald Trump for the next presidential election during an interview aired the night before Trump is expected to announce his 2024 campaign bid.
Pence, who spoke with ABC News anchor David Muir on Monday night, talked about his perspective on the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021, and promoted his upcoming book So Help Me God that is scheduled for release on Tuesday—the same day Trump plans to make a “major announcement” from his Mar-a-Lago estate.
In the interview, Muir asked the former vice president what he called “a pretty straightforward question.”
“Yes or no,” Muir said to Pence. “Do you believe that Donald Trump should ever be president again?”
“I think that’s up to the American people,” Pence replied. “But I think we’ll have better choices in the future.”
Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images
One of those choices could be Pence himself, as the Indiana native told ABC News that he and his family are giving “prayerful consideration” to potentially running in 2024.
Trump has continuously hinted at running for president in 2024, and announced before last week’s election that he would make a major announcement on Tuesday night at his home in Palm Beach, Florida. Several GOP leaders, however, have blamed the former president for a disappointing midterm turnout and want the party to move away from Trump in the future.
Pence said that last week’s election was “more of a red ripple” than a red wave like anticipated, “and I’m just disappointed in that.”
“I think that the focus on the past, that President Trump’s continued focus on relitigating the past election and calling on candidates to do this thing didn’t help,” Pence said.
Pence also joked with Muir that whatever Trump’s big announcement is Tuesday, he’s “pretty sure he’s not announcing my book.”
“But look, it’s a free country,” he added. “He can make any announcement that he wants to make.”
Pence called Trump’s actions on January 6 “reckless” in his interview Monday, and said that the former president “decided to be part of the problem” during the attack on the Capitol that led to some rioters calling to “Hang Mike Pence” after he wouldn’t stop Congress from certifying the 2020 election results.
However, other GOP leaders said that Pence’s reaction to Trump’s potential 2024 run was “disappointing,” including former Ohio Governor John Kasich, who discussed Pence’s interview on CNN Monday night.
Kasich told CNN anchor Anderson Cooper that Pence “should have said no” when asked if Trump should run for president again.
“I don’t think [Trump] should be president,” Kasich said. “I can’t figure that out. It’s disappointing [Pence] doesn’t say no. Frankly, he should have said no from the beginning because Donald Trump has divided our country.”
Former Congressman Joe Walsh, who ran against Trump for the Republican nomination in the 2020 presidential election, wrote on Twitter that Pence’s response was a “bad answer.”
“A dishonest answer,” Walsh continued. “The correct answer, the answer Pence just doesn’t have the guts to give, is: ‘NO.'”
.@Mike_Pence was just asked directly: “Do YOU think Donald Trump should be elected President again?
He answered: “That’s up to the American people.”
Bad answer. A dishonest answer. The correct answer, the answer Pence just doesn’t have the guts to give, is: “NO.”
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) November 15, 2022
In a separate interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday, Pence said that even though he considers himself and Trump to be “different,” the two “formed a close working relationship.”
“I chronicle that in the book,” Pence tells Hannity. “We parted amicably, and we spoke a number of times after I left office. But frankly, when the president returned to some of the rhetoric about me and others who had taken a stand for the Constitution, I thought it was best we just go our separate ways.”
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s team for comment on Pence’s interview.