Chris Christie
says that
Trump's ego won't allow him
to miss the debate.
Obviously, he has threatened to skip it.
Do you agree with Chris
Christie on that, that his ego
won't allow him to miss the debate?
Well, you know, I hope he's there.
I mean, I,
I intend to be on that
debate stage in late August.
And I look forward to squaring off
and talking about the issue.
Look,
the American people are hurting
right now.
I mean, this economy is struggling.
The world seems to be
more dangerous by the day.
We've got the worst crisis
on our southern border
in American history.
Many Americans
feel that their liberties and values
are under constant assault.
And I think carrying forward
an unapologetic mainstream
conservative agenda and juxtaposing that
with some who would who
we want
to follow the siren
song of populism for the Republican Party
is going to be a worthy debate.
And I'm sure you're
going to qualify for the debate.
And I hope he's going to be there.
You bet.
Will be on that debate stage.
We're working every day
to get to that threshold. 40,000.
But I have to tell you, it's
humbling to me.
Ever since we announced
how many people have been going
to Mike Pence. 20, 24.
BCOM since that day back in June
have been
even making a dollar contribution
to get us on the stage,
and I'm sure we're going to be there.
Speaking of the investigations
that are happening here, obviously
those would likely come up
on the debate stage as well.
You testified
in the January six investigation
for more than 5 hours
after a court fight.
Do you think that your testimony
could lead to an indictment
Well, look,
I can tell you that
I had concerns about the unprecedented
subpoena of a former vice
president to testify about my duties
under
under my role as president of the Senate.
We went to court on that.
We actually we won that round.
Actually, for the first time
in history,
a federal judge recognized
that some of the protections
members of Congress have do extend
to the vice president.
And I was grateful for that.
But, look,
there's no mystery
about what I talked about,
and people can draw
their own conclusions.
I've told the story many times
on your airwaves and others.
And of course, of course, in the on
the printed page of of my autobiography.
And, you know,
my hope
is that ultimately all these questions
are resolved
by the American people
that I think most Americans
remember that day.
Well, it's a day I'll never forget.
Most Americans saw what happened in
real time. And
I have to tell you, as I
traveled around Iowa all last week,
we were there for five days
on the ground.
My Karen,
Karen and I were traveling
all across
western Iowa in
and around Independence Day.
And Caitlin,
I can honestly tell you
I know I know
it's of great interest
to many of you in the media,
but it's just not
what people were talking to me about
on the ground in Iowa
or when I've been in New Hampshire
and other states around the country.
Mr.
Vice President, here in Indiana,
11 voter actually did bring it up to you.
She was of the belief
that you were essentially
the reason President Biden was in office.
You corrected her and said
you did not have the authority
to overturn the election that day.
You didn't have the ability
not to certify Biden's win.
You just said that you believe
the American people will hold
Trump accountable.
You have said that
you do ultimately believe
he'll be held accountable for that day.
Does that mean you say that
he'll be held accountable by the voters,
not by the criminal justice system here
Well,
I'm just saying
that's what I would prefer in this case.
But I look, I respect the rule of law.
Caitlin, I made you
you know where I stand
on the Constitution.
You know where I stand
on the rule of law.
And I want to
I want to let our judicial process work,
and I want to be respectful of that.
But, you know,
at the end of the day,
I trust the American people
in this matter.
And it would just be my hope
that ultimately questions
around that fateful day would
would go to the American people.
And I've got to tell you, you're right.
There was one person
that brought up
the events of January six
and my actions that day,
but just one we did
we did 12 town halls in ten counties.
And I have to just tell you, it's
I was frankly grateful
that she brought it up.
I think there's been some miss
understanding the persist to this day
when President Trump
has continued to maintain
that I had the authority
to overturn the election,
but I had no right to overturn
the election.
And I know that by God's grace,
we did our duty under the Constitution
on January six.
And but I honestly, Caitlin it just
it just didn't come up
as we traveled around
because frankly, the
the failed policies
of the Biden administration
have weakened
this country at home and abroad.
The American people
are desperately concerned
about those issues affecting their lives.
And voters.
Right.
Aren't really looking in
the rearview mirror. And
that's where I'm staying focused, too.
I understand that you're saying
it's not something
that gets brought up a lot
by Republican primary voters.
But when you talk
about your actions on that day,
you know, you're
you're often praised for the actions
you took that day.
Standing up to the pressure
you were facing to take actions
that you say you could not take, that
everyone does you wouldn't
didn't have the ability to do.
But do you ever wish
that you had spoken up sooner
that you would come out
and publicly conceded
the election
in the weeks
before it got to the point that it got to
that you had said something before then
Well well, honestly, Caitlin, I,
I had frankly hoped to all well,
all the way up to the waning
days before January six,
that President Trump would
come around on this issue.
I've seen it many times.
You talk about times that we disagreed.
When I was vice president,
I'd seen the president
take a hard position on an issue
and then take the opposite position
and then engage
in a debate back and forth.
And I'll never forget that Monday
night, right before January six,
when he stood
before a crowd in Georgia at a rally.
And I had been in Georgia earlier
in the day
rallying folks for that
special Senate election.
And I remember
he said, Mike
Pence has got to come through for us.
And if he doesn't,
I won't like him so much.
And then he paused and said, no, no.
One thing you know about Mike,
because he's always
going to do the right thing.
And I remember in that moment
Caitlin thinking
maybe he's coming around
and starting to see that.
But the people that had told him that
I had some authority
that that the Constitution
simply did not give me nor
should ever give to any one individual,
the presidency belongs
to the American people
and the American people alone.
But it was not to be.
And sadly,
things went downhill from there.
But I had hoped all along
the way to persuade him of the
the rightness of our cause
and our position.
Let the process work in the Congress,
let the objections be heard.
You remember,
Democrats brought objections
to Electoral College votes
in three of the last four elections
that Republicans had prevailed.
There's nothing wrong with that
process happening.
But I'd always hoped to see, obviously,
that day that we did our duty that day.
That day was much different.
But don't
you think it would have had an effect
if you had come out in mid-December
when it was very clear
the Electoral Act Electoral College
had certified Biden's win
if you had come out
and publicly conceded the election,
why didn't you do that?
Well, I wanted to be respectful.
Remember, we had about 60 lawsuits
that were working,
some of which were still in
the courts were thrown out.
But in the immediate days before
January six, well, yeah,
a lot of them were not true.
That said,
the reality is
I wanted to respect the process.
I wanted to make it clear
that I was going to do my job
as the presiding officer
over the Congress, as
my 47 predecessors had done and
as vice president serving
as president of the Senate.
I think we did our duty by God's grace.
We did our duty that day.
You know,
I must tell you,
I was very moved
by that woman
who asked me
at the town hall meeting about it
that she later told someone
on your network
that she appreciated
that I was a man of faith and
said she'd consider voting for me
nonetheless.
So, you know, I I welcome the opportunity
to talk about the record that we build
under the Trump-Pence years,
but I also welcome the opportunity
to talk to people about what
I understood to be my duty
and that if I have the great privilege
of being president of the United States,
I'll I'll always keep my oath
to the Constitution.
That was to my colleague, King Law.
One last question
on the classified documents case
you have often said
when talk
when asked about the indictment,
that you find it troubling,
but wait and let Trump go,
go to trial and present his case.
He is now asking to postpone that
indefinitely until
after the 20, 24 election.
Do you think it's fair for voters
to go to the ballot box
and cast their votes without that case?
Having gone to trial as
far away as that is
Well,
you know,
I was his vice president for four years.
I'm not anymore, Caitlin, and
I'm also not his lawyer.
So I really can't
I can't really comment on
on the merits of the motion
that they filed
that's being discussed today.
I have said know
whether or not it's fair
for voters to have to make a judgment
before they
if they have to wait
and they purposely try to delay it
until after the 20, 24 election.
Well.
Well, look, I look
I look everyone's innocent
until proven guilty.
And the president
is entitled to his day in court.
He's entitled to a full representation
and to offer the motions by his counsel
that he would offer.
I want
as I've said
before, the allegations
in that indictment are serious.
I don't ever want to diminish
the seriousness
of handling
the classified materials of this country.
But at the end of the day,
I want to let that process work,
let the president have his day in court,
make his defense, and I'll trust
I'll trust the court and the judges
to make the right call on
when and where that happens.
All right.
Former Vice President Mike Pence,
thank you so much for your time tonight.
Thank you, Caitlin.