Former Vice President Mike Pence criticized Donald Trump by name Monday after failing to directly call out the president in a speech just 24 hours earlier.
Pence spoke to CNN the day after receiving the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for refusing to give in to Trump’s demands on Jan. 6, 2021, to reject Joe Biden’s election victory. While Pence was critical of the administration, he never referred to the president by name.
On Monday, Pence took a more direct route: naming Trump and telling CNN that the thousands of pardons or commutations surrounding the Capitol riots “sent the wrong message.”
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“I was deeply disappointed to see President Trump pardon people that engaged in violence against law enforcement officers that day,” Pence said. “The president has every right under the Constitution to grant pardons, but in that moment, I thought it sent the wrong message.”
Pence also re-upped his qualms about Trump’s tariffs, which have caused alarm about a flailing economy.
“I do have concerns that, with the president’s call for broad-based tariffs against friend and foe alike, that ultimately the administration is advancing policies that are not targeted at countries that have been abusing our trade relationship, but rather are essentially new industrial policy that will result in inflation, that will harm consumers and that will ultimately harm the American economy,” he said.
Pence wrote an op-ed last month for The Wall Street Journal saying as much, while also giving plenty of compliments to his former boss.
Pence on Monday also called for lowering trade barriers with U.S. allies. But for authoritarian regimes, “we ought to get tough, stay tough and demand that they open their markets and respect our intellectual property,” he said.
Pence added, “I do think this version of tariff policy that’s broad-based, indiscriminate, applies tariffs to friend and foe alike, is not a win for the American people.”
And as for Trump admitting that his tariffs will mean children will have to make do with “two dolls instead of thirty dolls,” Pence wasn’t buying it.
“I have two grown daughters. I have three small granddaughters. And look, keeping dolls affordable, keeping our kids’ toys affordable, that really is part of the American dream,” Pence said.
“I think the American people are going to see the consequences of this. I think they’ll demand a different approach.”
On the topic of Russia’s war against its neighbor, Pence called out the Trump administration’s “wavering” support for Ukraine.
“If the last three years teaches us anything, it’s that Vladimir Putin doesn’t want peace; he wants Ukraine. And the fact that we are now nearly two months of following a ceasefire agreement that Ukraine has agreed to and Russia continues to delay and give excuses confirms that point,” Pence said.
“It’s the reason why in this moment, we need to make it clear that the United States is going to continue to lead the free world, to provide Ukraine with the military support they need to repel the Russian invasion and achieve a just and lasting peace,” he added. “The wavering support the administration has shown over the last few months, I believe, has only emboldened Russia.”
Pence also weighed in on Ukrainian President Volodumyr Zelensky’s February meeting with Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office, calling it “regrettable.”
“I thought President Zelensky was ill-advised to take his argument before the media in the Oval Office,” Pence said, “and I thought it was unfortunate the way the president and the administration responded in that moment.”
