First I
have to ask you, of course,
about the elephant in the room,
which is
your former
boss, Donald Trump,
just announced that he's
running for president.
That will you.
Will you support him?
Well, it's great to be here at CNN, Jake.
Thank you. It really is.
Thank you for bringing together
so many great Americans, including
I heard
some people from my home state,
a lot of them,
a lot of us here, Hoosiers in the house.
And let me just let me just say that,
you know, it was
it was a great honor for me.
To be a part of the Trump administration.
I mean, in four short years,
we rebuild our military.
We revived our economy.
We unleashed American energy.
We appointed conservative of our courts
at every level.
But in the end, our administration did
not end well.
And I write about that in my book.
But as I've traveled across the country
over the last year
and a half,
one thing I've heard over and over again,
whether it's at the grocery
store in Indiana
or traveling around the country is
people want us to get back
to the policies
of the Trump-Pence administration.
They want to see America
strong and prosperous
and advancing the policies
that we advance that left
America more secure and
7 million American jobs created.
But the other thing
that I've heard consistently
is that
the American people are looking
for new leadership, leadership that will
unite our country
around our highest ideals,
leadership that will reflect the civility
and respect that most Americans
have for one another.
You know, once you get out of politics,
you learn pretty
quickly that
while our politics is very divided,
the American people actually get along
pretty well every day
and treat each other
with kindness and with decency
and with respect. And.
And so I think in the days ahead,
whatever role I and my family play
in the Republican Party,
whether it's as a candidate
or simply a part of the cause, I,
I think we'll have better choices,
better choices than my old running mate.
I think America longs
to go back to the policies
that were working
for the American people.
But I think it's time for new leadership
in this country
that will bring us together
around our highest ideals.
Would that be you?
I'll keep you posted.
Keep me posted. All right.
Just just to put a button on this.
If Donald Trump were to run and win
the nomination,
would you support him as the nominee?
Well, let me say there.
There may be somebody else
in that contest.
I'd prefer more.
Check anyone in mind.
Well,
you know,
I honestly believe
we're going to have better choices.
Literally, everywhere
I've gone across the country,
I've heard again and again that
the American people
look at the policies
of the Biden-harris administration
that have ignited
the worst inflation in 40
years, that have
caused gasoline prices to go through
the roof, have
literally, literally weakened America
at home. And abroad every single day.
They want to get back to the policies.
But and maybe it's because of my
my Hoosier and Midwestern upbringing,
they often say to me
that we want to get back to
treating one another in public life
the way the American people
treat one another every day.
And that's with with respect
for all viewpoints in this country.
And
and I have every confidence
that will produce a standard
bearer for our party,
whoever he or she may be,
they know
that will lead us
there and lead us to victory in 20, 24.
Well, your talk of civility
leads us perfectly
into the first question we have
from Jesse LaRosa in the audience.
He's an accountant from Cherry Hill,
New Jersey, is a Republican
who voted for the Trump-Pence ticket.
Jesse.
Vice President, thank you for being here.
I just is next.
Whether you love him or hate him.
Former President Trump.
Now candidate Trump
is a polarizing figure
who brought controversial issues
to the forefront of American politics.
How does the country move past
the polarization
and find common ground solutions
to these important issues
facing this nation?
Well, Jesse, thanks.
Thanks for the question.
But let me just say,
it was the greatest honor of my life
to serve as vice president with President
Donald Trump.
I don't think any candidate
other than Donald Trump
could have defeated
Hillary Clinton in 2016
Republican primary voters saw that
that formidable
candidacy of Hillary Clinton.
And I think they knew we needed a fighter
someone that could step forward
and helped
turn the country back to the policies
that would make a strong
and prosperous and secure.
And he was the right man
at the right time.
And it was my
honor to serve alongside him.
But I truly do believe, as I just shared
with Jake,
that I think
we're moving into a different season
in America.
Our nation has been through a lot.
The COVID pandemic
riots of the summer of 2020.
Of course, the tragic day
in January of 2021.
And and what I hear people saying
more than anything else
is that they want to see leadership
that will look at uniting
the American people
around our highest ideals.
I truly do believe that and I and I
and I think it all begins
with the golden rule.
You know as I write in my book,
the most important decision I ever made
was to
put my faith in Jesus Christ
when I was a freshman in college.
The second most important decision
I ever made was to ask Karen Pence
to become my wife 37 years ago.
But for us and for our family, we've
we've always tried to live
by the Golden Rule, to
treat others
the way that we want to be treated.
It wasn't always true
in my political career
when I first started out in politics,
as I write
in my book,
I let my ambition get ahead of me.
I,
I got involved in one of those negative
personal attack
campaigns, but when it was all over,
I reflected on what my Christian faith
required of me.
And from the time
ten years later
that we had the opportunity
to run for Congress again,
we always sought
to run
in such a way that first demonstrated
the decency and our commitment
to treat people
properly and respectfully
about issues more important than us.
And then it was about winning.
And through my years
in Congress, through my years
as governor of Indiana,
as your vice president,
and I've tried to emulate that.
And I think
whether it's me and my family or
or some other standard
bearer for our party,
I believe,
or we're going into a season
where the American people are looking for
that kind of leadership
that that vigorously debates
our issues, stand strongly
for them, as I always have,
but does so with gentleness and respect.
I want to bring in our first Hoosier
of the night Daniella Melo.
She's from Fort Wayne.
She's a student at Indiana University.
She's a Democrat
who voted for President Biden. Daniella?
Yeah.
I was wondering,
based off of the themes of your book
for you,
one was the most difficult moment
in your political career
to reconcile
the competing interests of loyalty.
God and the Constitution.
Well, Michelle, good to have you here.
And know Danielle, forgive me.
And
clearly, the days leading up
to January 6th and January 6th itself
was the most difficult day
in my public life.
You know, I was always loyal to President
Donald Trump.
He was my president and he was my friend.
And we were together very closely for
all those four years.
Of our administration
whenever we had disagreements.
And we did from time to time,
I kept them in private.
I thought it was important.
As vice president that I offer my advice
and my counsel
to the president confidentially.
And we did.
But I had one higher loyalty,
and that was to God in the Constitution.
And that's what set in motion
the confrontation that would come to pass
on January six.
Because like I had taken an oath
to the Constitution of the United States.
It was
it ended with a prayer, so help me God.
Which inspired the title of my book.
And I was determined to keep my oath,
as the Bible says, to keep my oath
even when it hurts.
And but to do that
well
with someone with
whom I'd worked so closely
and forged
such a good relationship,
someone who I'd created a record with
that I'll be proud of
for the rest of my life,
was difficult, but I'll always believe
that we did our duty that day
upholding the Constitution
of the United States
and the laws of this country
in the peaceful transfer of power.