Pence on Trump’s 2024 Run: ‘I Think We’ll Have Better Choices’ - The New York Times

Former Vice President Mike Pence said connected Tuesday that helium was angered by President Donald J. Trump’s behaviour connected and earlier Jan. 6, 2021, but helium took pains to debar attacking him arsenic Mr. Trump geared up for a statesmanlike run and Mr. Pence considers 1 of his own.

During a 30-minute interrogation successful New York City arsenic helium promoted his new book, “So Help Me God,” Mr. Pence deflected questions astir Mr. Trump’s quality and declined to accidental whether the erstwhile president should beryllium elected again but suggested that helium would not beryllium supporting Mr. Trump successful the Republican superior season.

“I deliberation we’ll person amended choices,” Mr. Pence said.

Asked however helium responded to Mr. Trump defending the radical who chanted “Hang Mike Pence” astatine the Capitol that time past twelvemonth and suggesting that those who were arrested were “political prisoners,” Mr. Pence answered: “It is the crushed wherefore I decided that we should conscionable spell our abstracted ways.”

Recounting that helium and Mr. Trump had respective conversations successful the last days of the presidency pursuing the storming of the Capitol and successful the fewer months aft they near the White House, Mr. Pence suggested that their narration was present dead. And helium made wide that helium was aggravated that Mr. Trump endangered Mr. Pence’s household that time with his inflammatory connection astir a stolen election.

When asked if helium should person said thing publically earlier Jan. 6 astir Mr. Trump’s unit connected him to reverse the result of the 2020 predetermination and his lies astir Mr. Pence’s willingness to spell on with subverting the electoral ballot certification, Mr. Pence suggested that backstage conversations with Mr. Trump had ever worked successful the past erstwhile they disagreed.

“First, fto maine spell backmost to the quality of our relationship,” Mr. Pence said. “For 4 and a fractional years, I’d ever been loyal to President Donald Trump. He was my president, helium was my friend. Whenever we had differences of opinion, I ever shared them successful private.”

But, helium said, “in the weeks earlier Jan. 6, I repeatedly told the president that I did not person the authorization to cull oregon instrumentality electoral votes. It was wide helium was getting antithetic ineligible proposal from an extracurricular radical of lawyers that, frankly, should person ne'er been fto successful the building.”

Mr. Pence was pressed connected whether that peculiar play of clip seemed antithetic with Mr. Trump, arsenic it did to galore outsiders. In response, the erstwhile vice president pointed to the rally that Mr. Trump held successful Georgia connected Jan. 4, 2021, the nighttime earlier 2 runoff elections for U.S. Senate seats, during which, Mr. Pence said, Mr. Trump stopped himself from being gratuitously nasty arsenic helium was pressuring the vice president successful his speech.

“I thought successful that moment, to myself, I thought, helium mightiness beryllium coming around,” Mr. Pence recalled. “But, you know, successful the 36 hours aft that, it was not to be.”

The occurrence of a Pence statesmanlike run would beryllium connected capable of the Republican voters who helped vault the summons into the White House successful 2016 seeking the erstwhile vice president arsenic offering the champion parts of the Trump presidency, without the changeless play oregon chaos.

To that end, Mr. Pence dotted his sentences with praise for what Mr. Trump had accomplished, and repeatedly avoided overt criticism. As helium spoke, helium tapped his ft compulsively passim the interview, and his wife, Karen, sat connected a seat conscionable extracurricular the tiny room, observing and listening extracurricular a photographer’s shot.

Asked what helium thought of Mr. Trump’s character, Mr. Pence replied that the erstwhile president had, “apart from the ending” of the presidency, ever been bully to Mr. Pence and his family.

When asked if Mr. Trump was a bully antheral oregon simply if Mr. Pence considered him arsenic bully arsenic his word, Mr. Pence replied, “I thought helium was arsenic bully arsenic his word, and I deliberation the American radical knew that.”

Mr. Pence, a societal blimpish and hostile of termination rights, took pridefulness successful the Supreme Court determination this twelvemonth overturning Roe v. Wade and said that had helium inactive been successful Congress, helium would person voted for a national prohibition connected abortion aft 15 weeks projected by Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina.

In his book, Mr. Pence repeatedly insists that Mr. Trump is not a bigot, suggesting specified a characterization is unfair. When presented with racist statements Mr. Trump has made successful the past month astir the woman of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who was calved successful Taiwan, and asked wherefore Mr. Trump repeatedly says things similar that, Mr. Pence said only, “I deliberation the president has an abrasive benignant that is precise antithetic from mine.”

Mr. Pence’s penchant successful the interrogation was to sermon the events astir Jan. 6, and helium saved immoderate of his toughest disapproval for Mark Meadows, Mr. Trump’s last main of unit and the 1 who galore blasted for the freewheeling entree that fringe figures and conspiracy theorists astir the predetermination had to the sitting president.

“When Mark Meadows took the relation of main of staff, I felt a oversea change,” Mr. Pence said. “I felt that the guardrails had travel disconnected successful the Oval Office.” Among Mr. Meadows’s failings, helium said, was encouraging a “premature” extremity to coronavirus briefings for the public.

“But the information that astatine the end,” Mr. Pence said, “the president acceptable speech extraordinarily talented attorneys successful the White House Counsel’s Office” was peculiarly egregious. That others were allowed to spell into the Oval Office and adjacent the residence “to archer the president, arsenic the Bible says, what his itching ears wanted to hear, was a large disservice to the country,” helium said.

Mr. Pence has not spoken with the House prime committee investigating the Jan. 6 onslaught astatine the Capitol and what led to it, saying successful the interrogation that helium took contented with the governmental constitution of its members.

When asked if the Justice Department has expressed an involvement successful talking to him, helium did not reply directly.

Finally, Mr. Pence said helium did not cognize wherefore Mr. Trump had taken hundreds of classified documents to Mar-a-Lago, his backstage club, aft the presidency ended. But helium took contented with the F.B.I. hunt of the property, saying it was invasive, fixed Mr. Trump’s presumption arsenic a erstwhile commandant successful chief.

“I had the payment of having a unit that precise cautiously reviewed the documents that were successful my White House office, anterior to our departure,” Mr. Pence said, adding that helium did not permission with anything.