Things got heated during an interview between former Vice President Mike Pence and talk radio host Clay Travis when the 2024 GOP candidate refused to say whether he would pardon his ex-boss, Donald J. Trump if he wins next year’s election.
Pence appeared on Wednesday’s edition of the “Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show” on the day after Trump was arraigned on a 37-count indictment brought by the Biden regime’s legal hatchetman, Special Counsel Jack Smith, charges that could send him to prison for the rest of his life.
With the campaign season about to fully kick off, an issue of great importance to voters is whether the Republican candidates would pardon Trump if they win the presidency and Pence’s testy ducking on giving a straight answer isn’t likely to be a selling point as he makes his case for the White House.
The ex- veep’s non-answer was called out as “pretty disrespectful” by Travis, the founder of sports website Outkick as well as one of the hosts of the popular nationally syndicated radio show.
Mike Pence refused to answer if he’d pardon Donald Trump on @clayandbuck today. And things got a bit heated as I pressed him on why he wouldn’t answer. Enjoy: pic.twitter.com/VTbzDK6lYR
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) June 14, 2023
“These are serious charges,” Pence said when pressed by Travis. “I can’t defend what’s been alleged, but the president does deserve to make his defense,” as the former Indiana governor said that the pardon process is “enormously important” for a leader.
“I think as a matter of principle, if you believe… Donald Trump is being prosecuted to a large extent for political-based reasons, something that has never happened in the 240-plus year history of the United States, that we are setting an awful precedent here,” Travis responded.
“To me, what is gained by allowing Donald Trump to be put in prison in the event he was convicted? We lose infinitely more by not just taking a principled stand and saying as a matter of principle, this shouldn’t happen,” the host added. “With all due respect, when you aren’t telling us what your decision would be, I think you’re dodging the question, and frankly, not stepping up on the front of leadership, which in the past you’ve been willing to do. To me, not answering is a no.”
“I don’t think you know what the president’s defense is, do you?” Pence shot back. “Look, we either believe in our judicial processes or we don’t…”
“What I’m hearing is you’re fine with Donald Trump being put in prison, sir,” Travis said. “That to me, since you were his vice president, feels pretty disrespectful.”
Later, on his podcast, Travis later declared that Pence is finished.
A fired-up @ClayTravis reacts to Mike Pence’s refusal to commit to pardoning Donald Trump.
Interview: https://t.co/oUHvyMn253
Podcast: https://t.co/WvNDsUybBx pic.twitter.com/wNJryOAS7q— The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show (@clayandbuck) June 14, 2023
The relationship between the former president and his veep has soured since the 2020 election which Trump continues to contend wasn’t on the up-and-up as well as the so-called “insurrection” on January 6, 2021, when Pence rejected his ex-boss’s call to intervene in the certification of Electoral College votes, and the two have repeatedly taken shots at each other.
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