This post has been updated since it was originally published to include recent facts.
Former Vice President Mike Pence has once again not held back regarding his opinions on Donald Trump, telling NewsNation in an interview clip that was released on Monday, November 28th that the former president was “wrong” for recently having dinner with White supremacist political commentator and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, 24, and controversial rapper Kanye West, 45, at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Pence, 63, then went on to say that he believes Trump, 76, showed poor judgement for the November 22nd dinner and should apologize for it! “President Trump was wrong to give a White nationalist, an antisemite and Holocaust denier a seat at the table, and I think he should apologize for it,” Pence said. “And he should denounce those individuals and their hateful rhetoric without qualification.” Pence added that Trump “demonstrated profoundly poor judgment in giving those individuals a seat at the table,” because he ultimately believes that Trump is not “a racist or a bigot.”
Mike Pence denounces Donald Trump’s dinner with a white nationalist and Ye.
Pence: “He should apologize for it, and he should denounce those individuals and their hateful rhetoric, without qualification.” https://t.co/W4hZ2UOZKL pic.twitter.com/5YIq1KxFSe
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) November 30, 2022
Trump Issues Statement Saying He ‘Knew Nothing’ About Fuentes
Trump has since released a few statements about his controversial dinner guests, firstly claiming he “knew nothing” about Fuentes. “This past week, Kanye West called me to have dinner at Mar-a-Lago. Shortly thereafter, he unexpectedly showed up with three of his friends, whom I knew nothing about,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on November 25th. “We had dinner on Tuesday evening with many members present on the back patio. The dinner was quick and uneventful. They then left for the airport.”
The next day, Trump added to his statement, writing: “So I help a seriously troubled man, who just happens to be black, Ye (Kanye West), who has been decimated in his business and virtually everything else, and who has always been good to me, by allowing his request for a meeting at Mar-a-Lago, alone, so that I can give him very much needed ‘advice.’ He shows up with 3 people, two of which I didn’t know, the other a political person who I haven’t seen in years. I told him don’t run for office, a total waste of time, can’t win.”
Donald Trump called Kanye West a “seriously troubled man” pic.twitter.com/sKZEkXrq02
— RapTV (@Rap) November 27, 2022
Jason Greenblatt Also Condemns Trump
Pence isn’t the only one to condemn the former president for his controversial dinner guests, as Jason D. Greenblatt, who is Jewish and served as White House Middle East envoy in the Trump administration, said that the dinner “should not have happened. Period,” in an op-ed for CNN which was also published on Monday, November 28th. “I hope President Trump condemns Fuentes, West and their ilk for what they are – haters of Jews and haters of the foundations of the United States of America.”
“People like Fuentes are dangerous to the United States,” Greenblatt added. “The President Trump that I know would recognize that and issue this condemnation. Regardless of how or why the dinner happened, haters such as Fuentes and West should not be given a platform or seat at the table by anyone.”
If anyone still had any doubts about Donald Trump’s embrace of bigotry and division, it’s certainly clarifying to see him spend time openly and unapologetically with notorious antisemites Nick Fuentes and Kanye West. Awful, appalling and yet entirely in character. https://t.co/u0LZIM2rt5
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) November 27, 2022
President Joe Biden And Deputy White House Press Secretary Andrew Bates Also Comment
Deputy White House Press Secretary Andrew Bates released a statement following Trump’s dinner, and said: “Bigotry, hate, and antisemitism have absolutely no place in America – Including at Mar-A-Lago Holocaust denial is repugnant and dangerous, and it must be forcefully condemned.” According to CBS News, when President Biden was asked about his thoughts on the dinner, he simply said: “You don’t want to hear what I think.”
White House responds to Trump’s Fuentes dinner: “Bigotry, hate, and antisemitism have absolutely no place in America – including at Mar-A-Lago. Holocaust denial is repugnant and dangerous, and it must be forcefully condemned,” Andrew Bates said. https://t.co/nVQnJ9EmiE
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) November 26, 2022
Pence Called Out Trump’s ‘Reckless’ Rhetoric That ‘Endangered’ Him And His Family In New Interview
Pence previously spoke out against Trump in an interview with David Muir for ABC’s World News Tonight. The former vice president slammed the twice-impeached former president for his infamously “reckless” rhetoric on January 6th, 2021 while insurrectionists wreaked havoc and stormed the Capitol.
In his first network television interview since the insurrection, Pence shared more details about the events that led up to the dangerous riots – even pointing to a tweet from Trump that was sent after Pence rejected his incessant demands to overturn the results of President Joe Biden’s 2020 election.
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Takeaways From Pence’s ‘World News Tonight’ Interview
During the interview with Muir, 49, Pence recalled getting upset after seeing Trump’s tweet on January 6th, sent as members of Congress barricaded inside the House chamber. “It angered me,” Pence said, adding,”But I turned to my daughter who was standing nearby and said, ‘It doesn’t take courage to break the law, it takes courage to uphold the law.” Pence clarified, “I mean, the president’s words were reckless.” The politician continued, going on to say that “it was clear” that Trump “decided to be part of the problem” that day.
Pence dodged Muir’s questions about why Trump didn’t reach out during the violent riots. “I was at the Capitol, I wasn’t at the White House,” Pence replied to Muir, who asked why Trump wasn’t calling the Pentagon Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Justice Department and the Capitol Police, as Pence had been doing at the time. “I can’t account for what the president was doing that day. I was at a loading dock at the Capitol where the riot was taking place …. That’d be a good question for him,” Pence suggested.
The former Indiana governor added regarding Trump and his behavior that inspired the US Capitol insurrection, “The president’s words were reckless and his actions were reckless.” Pence continued, “The president’s words that day at the rally [before the riot] endangered me and my family and everyone at the Capitol building.”
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Pence Calls Out Trump’s ‘Reckless’ Behavior During The Captiol Riots
While Pence served as the vice president of the United States and president of the Senate, he oversaw Congress’ certification of Electoral College results, but never had the legal authority to overturn them, much to Trump’s dismay. Trump, who did not obtain the necessary amount of votes to win re-election, publicly cited baseless claims about voter fraud in the attempt to convince his base that the election was “stolen” from him.
Pence followed the law, and wrote in a letter to members of Congress, “It is my considered judgment that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not.” Pence added that “vesting the Vice President with unilateral authority to decide presidential contests would be entirely antithetical to” American government.
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While Pence released this letter, many of Trump’s supporters, who were in Washington D.C. to see Trump speak at a “Stop the Steal” rally, broke into the Capitol, expressing their anger and even chanting about wanting to “hang” Pence. This then forced Pence and some of his team members to be moved to an undisclosed location.
During the middle of all of this, Trump then tweeted (before his account was deleted for promoting violence and misinformation), writing that Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.” Trump later defended the appalling chants, deeming the ones about hanging Pence to be “common sense” because the people were “very angry.”
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Pence’s Memoir & Possible Presidential Run
Since leaving the White House, Pence has dubbed January 6th of last year to be “a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol.” In his new memoir, So Help Me God, out this week, Pence opens up more about his personal experience, and how the “seeds were sown” for the “tragic” day.
Pence has been hinting in recent public appearances that he is “thinking about the future,” something that political experts are thinking could be related to a future presidential run. Trump has also been teasing his third presidential run, hinting that he has an important announcement planned for November 15th, 2022.
To this day, Trump still insists that he won the 2020 election, and continues to criticize his former running mate for not illegally overturning the results. “Mike and I had a great relationship except for the very important factor that took place at the end,” Trump told the Examiner in a recent interview. “I haven’t spoken to him in a long time.”
