In an extremely tense exchange, the conservative radio host Clay Travis called Mike Pence “pretty disrespectful” for not committing to pardon the former President Donald Trump.
Travis has vociferously argued that the federal indictment of Trump has been a politicized endeavor. As such, he challenged the former Vice President to pledge a pardon for his GOP rival.
“These are serious charges,” Pence replied. “I can’t defend what’s been alleged, but the president does deserve to make his defense.”
Pence pointed out that the power to pardon is an “enormously important” one and indicated it was too soon to make such a commitment.
That’s when sparks started to fly between the two.
“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 fired back.
The radio host accused Pence of “dodging the question” and “not stepping up on the front of leadership.”
“To me, not answering is a no,” he said.
Pence snapped, “I don’t think you know what the president’s defense is, do you?”
https://twitter.com/clayandbuck/status/1669054989199613965?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Pence went on to argue that the judicial process must play out and Americans should continue to have faith in the system.
“What I’m hearing is you’re fine with Donald Trump being put in prison, sir,” a fired-up Travis replied. “That to me, since you were his vice president, feels pretty disrespectful.”
Pence continued to dodge by saying he wouldn’t engage in hypotheticals and reminded listeners that the former President has a right to defend himself from the charges.
Following the interview, Travis declared “Mike Pence’s campaign is over” after he refused to answer the question on pardoning.
Why does he feel this way? The host pointed out that Pence refused to bend to Trump’s whim in his efforts to overturn the election results on “principle,” but now suddenly can’t stand on principle when it comes to a political prosecution that is clearly wrong.
“I don’t know how you can stand on principle more than saying, ‘Trying to put a former President in prison for political reasons is wrong and I’ll make the hard choice and keep him out of prison,” said Travis.
“He would let his former President be put in handcuffs by Joe Biden and won’t tell us ‘I won’t let that happen’?” he continued. “He’s done to me.”
https://twitter.com/clayandbuck/status/1669069995920310272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Perhaps Pence is reticent to offer a pardon because he, like Joe Biden, escaped the same level of prosecution despite them both being embroiled in a similar controversy.
Pence had about a dozen classified documents turn up in his Indiana home. Biden had them strewn about multiple locations, including in a garage alongside his Corvette.
The Justice Department informed attorneys for Pence that they had closed their case and he would not be charged in the discovery of classified documents at his home. The Biden investigation has been practically non-existent.
Trump was arrested. Do you see the problem here, Mike?
This isn’t the first time Pence has skated around the idea of offering a pardon for his former boss.
https://twitter.com/MikeSington/status/1666760789418737665?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Thus far, the only Republican candidate for President to commit to a pardon has been Vivek Ramaswamy.
In fact, Ramaswamy challenged every other presidential candidate to sign a pledge that they would right the wrong of a politicized Justice Department and pardon Trump.
https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1668636648756895744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
“This is my commitment, on Jan 20th, 2025, if I’m elected the next U.S. president, to pardon Donald J. Trump,” Ramaswamy announced. “I have demanded that every other candidate in this race either sign this commitment to pardon.”
Clearly, Pence has no intention of signing that pledge.