Former Vice President Mike Pence announced on Fox News that he would not endorse his former boss Donald Trump for the 2024 presidential election due to their diverging agendas.
“It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year," the Indiana Republican said on Fox News,
“Donald Trump is pursuing and articulating an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda that we governed on during our four years," he added. "That’s why I cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump in this campaign.”
The announcement came after Trump publicly called for his endorsement, citing their previous successful partnership.
“[Pence] should endorse me. You know why? Because I had a great, successful presidency and he was the vice president.” The former president added that he might not get such an endorsement, however, because “[p]eople in politics can be very disloyal.”
Despite years of unwavering loyalty to Trump, Pence's breaking point came following the events of January 6, where Trump put his own vice president in danger and failed to condemn violence against him. This pivotal moment, along with Trump's subsequent attacks on Pence's character, led him o distance himself from his former boss.
Political analysts believe Pence's decision signals a growing rift between Trump loyalists and those who are reevaluating their support for the former president.
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Pence ran against Trump during the 2024 presidential primaries, being one of the few candidates who spoke out against the former president's actions on January 6 and his "loyalty-based" agenda. However, he dropped out of the race before the Iowa caucus when he struggled to poll at 2%, far behind other potential candidates like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carlina Gov. Nikki Haley, and Vivek Ramaswami.
As OK! previously reported, Trump's lawyers accused the former VP of colluding with President Biden so he could avoid charges for allegedly being in possession of classified documents after leaving the White House.
"The potential criminal charges faced by Vice President Pence gave him an incentive to curry favor with authorities by providing information that is consistent with the Biden Administration's preferred, and false, narrative regarding this case," the lawyer's court filing read.
MSNBC provided quotes and sources used in this article.
