Mike Pence said he won’t endorse former President Donald Trump but suggested he could still vote for him.
The former vice president was asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday why he hasn’t ruled out voting for Trump in the 2024 election. Pence said last month he could not “in good conscience” endorse Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, but declined to say he would not vote for him.
“I’ll just keep my vote to myself, you know. I’d never vote for Joe Biden,” Pence told Tapper.
He cited differences he has with Trump on “my constitutional duties on Jan. 6,” Trump’s foreign policy posture, and the former president’s claim that he would not sign a national abortion ban if elected. He said Trump is “shying away from our commitment as leader of the free world.”
“I’ve just made it clear that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump in this campaign. But I’ll keep my vote on my own and I’ll vote according to my conscience in private just like every American will,” he added.
The sidestepping response drew a sharp rebuke from former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.), a Trump critic.
“There is just no defense for this,” he posted on X, formerly Twitter. “Pence, who said he won’t ENDORSE Trump, refuses to say whether or not he’ll VOTE for Trump. Huh? Huh? Huh? My God man, get some gumption and take a stand. Take a stand man.”
Pence threw his hat in the ring last year for the Republican nomination, but he did not prove to be popular.
His relationship with Trump soured after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, when he declined to help Trump attempt to overturn the 2020 election. Trump’s supporters chanted outside the Capitol for Pence to be hung on the day of the riot.
Pence is one of numerous former officials who worked in Trump’s White House and have refused to endorse him for a second presidency, though his criticism has been more reserved than that from some others.
Since it’s become apparent that Trump will be the GOP nominee, several Republicans who had denounced Trump after his presidency have flip-flopped and said they will support him.
Trump has been charged with 91 felonies across four criminal indictments since leaving office. The first of those to go to trial, the hush money case, began jury selection this week.