Full Pence: ‘Possessing Classified Documents In An Unprotected Area Is Not Proper’

Mr. Vice President, welcome back to meet with the press, thank you Joe, it's good to be back, your running mate, President Trump, announced his third bid for the White House this week. His response and many interviews have been: he hopes there are better options in 2024. You say that because you think he is not in a position or you think there is Trump fatigue. Well, Chuck, let me tell you, I don't think anyone could have defeated Hillary Clinton except Donald Trump in 2016. Well, I think Republican primary voters knew how formidable Hillary Clinton was. would be the political machine for decades around the Clinton family and they knew that we needed a standard bearer who was a fighter who would literally take the fight to the public debate in the campaign and I also think that after eight years of the Obama Biden Administration that Republican voters knew that we needed someone who could bring real transformative change to rebuild our military revive our economy appoint conservatives to our courts at all levels confront the international challenges we face and I think Donald Trump has moved with the times and you I know I learned that in the I walk while I write in my book, so help me God.

I endorsed another candidate in the 2016 primary in Indiana, and to be fair, the candidate I endorsed won all three counties. I campaigned with him in Donald Trump won all the rest. and I saw in that the connection that he made with the voters and I never doubted that he was going to win the elections, but you know, I think that after one of the most important presidencies of my life, of which I had the honor of being a part I truly believe that the American people are looking to return to the policies of the Trump Pence Administration, but I think they are looking for leadership that can unite our country around our highest ideals and also bring a renewed commitment to civility and mutual respect. that the American people show each other every day, the former president has said that it is disloyal for some members of the Republican Party to challenge him and he is talking not only about you but Governor DeSantis, Secretary Pompeo, you accept the idea of that running against him is disloyal, I think.

The American people love competition and my loyalty is to my faith, my values ​​and America, and I think it is if we're a part of that debate next year and our family will figure it out before the end of the year, Chuck. right, um or if we're just contributing from the sidelines and others are in that race. I think a good, healthy debate about the direction of the country is warranted, I mean, from the early days of the Biden Harris administration it's almost even as if we have a new Democratic Administration determined to weaken America at home and abroad, whether it be the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, whether it be the spending spree that unleashed the worst inflation in 40 years, the war on energy that has caused gasoline prices to drop. skyrocketing or the crime wave in our major cities and, of course, after undoing all the successful policies that secured our southern border, we now have the worst crisis on our southern border in the history of the United States and, because of that, I really believe that Republican primary voters want to hear a strong debate they will want to find our best standard bearer so that having taken back the house, it was made official last week, we will have a chance to take back America in 2024. you laid out a reason why Do you believe that the Administration bites?

Does the United States have a path that it does not like? Why do you think voters didn't accept that premise in 2022? They clearly didn't do it in the battleground states. Why do you think it was good? They did it in many states of the country. In the state of New York, four new Republican congressmen are elected. It may be the margin of the majority itself. In the state of Iowa, for the first time in half a century, they will have all Republican members of the House of Representatives. But Chuck. I see your point, I mean a win is a win.

I'm glad to see that Kevin McCarthy will take the gavel to be the next speaker of the house, but I would like to see more Republicans elected and I would like to see Republicans win the Senate and more governorships across the country, but for me the common denominator it had to do with whether or not the candidates were focused on the future. While traveling, it sounds like that was code for whether candidates were nice or not. on Trump's comment, well, I don't want to say, I think you're going to be polite, I understand that, but it sounds like what you're saying is that anyone who was close to Trump didn't do well, but I think it's broader than that Chuck for me as I was traveling and I went to 35 states in the last year and a half campaigning for all kinds of men and women running for state office and for the House and the Senate and as I was sorting through the results there it really is a common denominator Candidates who focused on the problems people face today and future-focused solutions for tomorrow did quite well, but candidates who focused on the past candidates who focused on relitigating The 2020 election didn't go so well when and we had some surprising and disappointing results, so I think, as I said when I was campaigning for Governor Brian Kemp in a primary that he won decisively, in many ways I was divided on this same question last spring.

I said that if Georgia voters voted to reappoint Governor Brian Kemp, they could send a deafening message that the Republican Party is the party of the future, and they did, and Governor Kemp ran against what is probably the most formidable country and won a decisive re-election because he again stayed focused, as many of our candidates did, on the challenges of today and tomorrow, what do you make of the fact that it's been since we spoke, I think it's been three days since President Trump announced and almost no one has endorsed them the party is not rallying around them why do you think it's me?

I haven't really followed it and so I can't talk to who supports them. The backrests are very small. The List look, I think it's me. I think what I'm saying is what I've been hearing for the last year and a half, you know, you know, being a private citizen again, you know, means I can drive my own car, I go to the grocery store. As I walk through airports, I talk to people who recognize me from my years of public service in Indiana and across the country, and the consistent message I've heard is what I just shared.

People want to return to Trump's successful policies. Pence, but some of the most ardent Republicans in the country have pulled me aside and told me that we need leadership that will unite the country around our values. You stopped short of saying that the former president is unfit to serve again, but this is former Defense Secretary Mark. esper says another is not fit for office Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says Trump doesn't have a moral compass, doesn't know the difference between a truth and a lie Bill Barr, the Attorney General, doesn't have the temperament or the persuasive power, judge luddick, someone you admire.

I know that Trump and his apologists are a clear and present danger to American democracy. Is he fit to serve as president of the United States for another four years? I really think it's a decision for the American people and President Trump now is, don't you think it's his opinion that coincides with the American people, I mean, and how about this? The fact that you can apply. Are you sending that message without saying it? Well wait. I'll keep you posted on whether or not I'm running, but I am. I think we will have better options, but what I will not do is not join those who want to dismiss the four years of our Administration and everything we accomplished for the American people, and as I write, help me.

God, the president's leadership was critical to our success in everything that was accomplished, whether it was rebuilding our military or the decisions he made as commander in chief to allow our Armed Forces to crush the Isis caliphate and eliminate its leader to allow the military to remove Qasim Solomoni, a man responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American service members during the war in Iraq, and it was the president's vision to cut taxes and roll back regulation and his direct interaction in the Capitol with members of Congress what I saw. We left behind the tax cuts and reforms that made seven million jobs, creating unemployment at its lowest level in 50 years, so the policies that, energy and the security of our border and the three justices of the Court Supreme are a great source of pride for me and in my book.

My God, help me. I try to make sure and give the president his due. I was proud to be his vice president and promote those policies that work for the American people against an avalanche of opposition from the Democratic Party from day one and, frankly, from many around the world. The national media that was preoccupied with controversies and conspiracies and the Russia-Russia message that dominated for two and a half years and that's why I want to give the president his due. I'm putting an end to this justifies the bad intention argument well and here I am?

I mean, that's what wins, I don't know what I'm saying? I don't want to dismiss, yes, a lot of people who want to draw very broad conclusions about the president or anyone else in the public sphere want to dismiss the balance of the record in my book, I try to make sure and present it, but also Chuck, uh, I think I'm very clear in saying that the administration did not end well, that I took a strong position and damage, let me ask you this, what it was like to be in public because every time the president and I disagreed as vice president I thought it was important to keep those things private.

Did Donald Trump curse the Republican when it came to the peaceful transfer of power and doing my duty under the Constitution of the United States we had the tragic day of January 6th and its consequences and all of that in its entirety is the record of the president and the record that the American people will decide. Look, you want the public to try to divide this. He's worried that Donald Trump's behavior after the 2020 election will hurt the Republican Party, and as evidenced by the midterms or 2022 midterms, I think it really depends on our candidates and whether the Republican candidates around them will learn. or not the lessons.

We learned that during that tragic day and, frankly, in many of the elections that took place in the midterms, I will never forget it. I write it in the book. It was the night before January 6th. The president and I were alone in the Oval Office and, in what was ultimately a tense conversation, I had made clear to him my position for weeks that I, as vice president, believed I did not have the authority to return or reject electoral votes when the chamber met to count the electoral votes. president vice president but in the tent there was great tension in the room and I, but at first I remember the president looked at me and pointed out the window to the crowd that was gathering just off the south lawn and on the ellipse and he said If you saw that crowd out there and I said yes, Mr.

President and he said those people love us and I said most people love him and he said well that's probably true and then I looked at him very seriously and I said and those people love the Constitution, Mr. President, you and I have known each other for a long time, Chuck, I first ran for Congress when Ronald Reagan was in the White House, it would take me 12 years to get there and the entire way I was a constitutional. Conservative. I fought for the conservative agenda in the House. I led as a conservative governor in Indiana and I believe I was part of one of the most successful conservative administrations in American history in the Trump Pence Administration, but along the way I have always believed. that our movement is ultimately based on love for the Constitution and the principles of the American founding and that was the point I made to the president and I think he still is.

I think the future of Republican voters and the Republican Party ultimately depends. based on America producing men and women who will defend the ideals enshrined in the Constitution and the Declaration, ideals that Ronald Reagan unapologetically defended and who will advance our movement for generations, does your behavior in January 2021 tell you no? I didn't respect the Constitution well, all I know is that what the president asked me to do would have violated my oath to the Constitution, so that's not respecting the concept. He certainly did not respect him enough to ask him to be disloyal to his oath.

The president of the United States at that time was receiving advice from lawyers who told him, as the Bible says, what his itching ears wanted to hear had fired from mid November to some of the extraordinary and capable lawyers who were servingin the White House and serving on the campaign and replaced them with a group of lawyers who brought conspiracy theories and made promises they never kept. I write in the book what it would be like a year after that tragic day when one of those lawyers Sydney Powell actually said in a court filing that no reasonable person would have assumed that what we were saying was true and now she tells us that the president was receiving terrible advice from people who not only should not have been in the Oval Office, but should not have been allowed on the White House grounds you brought up that point a couple of times praised John Kelly for how he ran the Oval Office and accomplished who came in came out how much of what happened on January 6 is in the hands of Mark Meadows the president has to depend on a high level team the term gatekeeper sounds offensive to the American mind one thinks of open government and access but what says General JohnKelly did it when he became White House chief of staff and what, frankly, all the best White House chiefs of staff have done throughout history is make sure that the only people who come in to the Oval Office are people who have the credibility to be there and make sure that the president understands what they are coming to talk about so that he is in a position to be able to make the decisions that only a president can make.

General Kelly created that order and, unfortunately, when he left Mick Mulvaney, I think it reached his level. He's better off as acting Chief of Staff to accomplish that, but I was disappointed in Mark Meadows' performance as Chief of Staff, particularly at the end, but very early on, when it became clear that he had discouraged the president from coronavirus press conferences in the White House. and uh, in a very real sense, uh, I think I think his tenure as Chief of Staff did not serve the president well. It seems it wasn't just January 6th. Are you saying that much of the coveted misinformation that sometimes came out of the President?

Trump's mouth was due to Mark Meadow's lack of control. Well, let's talk about greed. I have something cool. No, I want to talk about that and I plan to, but I want to ask you about that specifically. Was he a bad guardian? So, all right, I've always believed that in a public health emergency more is more when it comes to information. Well, that's why immediately after I was appointed to lead the White House coronavirus task force, within days we started briefing you. and other members of the media about what our team was developing and how we were defending our national response, we very quickly started with daily press conferences and I think they serve the country well, but once we got through that early difficult period with the coven and um and the new Chief of Staff started his term, the pressure started about a month into the pandemic to move away from briefings.

I was opposed to that, but obviously it was the president's decision, but I think ultimately, ultimately, uh, when we're going through such uncertain and challenging times giving the public as much information as possible. Those of you who are in the information business. As much information as possible is better. It seems that they would apply in their book that that meeting with the lawyers when you have the campaign lawyers and then on the speaker is Rudy Giuliani and some of these other lawyers, you concluded that in some way they helped foment the January 6 insurrection, that that It was the moment when you seemed to go, that they were. the wrong way, that's how you meant it to be red, that's how I wrote it, so help me God, was that while it's understandable, focus on the days leading up to January 6th.

For me, the fuse was lit. In mid-November on that phone call from Rudy Giuliani, the Oval Office was

full

of advisors. The president's campaign advisors were there. The other senior staffers on the speaker were the new lawyers who were vying for the chance to lead the election. Justin Clark, who is an extraordinary lawyer and a man of great integrity, was telling the president about the dozens of lawsuits that have been filed challenging the election results across the country and was painting a somewhat pessimistic view of the prospects for those lawsuits, except the campaign. He had every right to file those lawsuits and that is the process in which we have states to conduct elections and if there are questions about irregularities or fraud, they should be taken to courts that can review the evidence and the law, but They were painting a picture.

I told the president that things were probably not going to turn out well, but when Rudy Giuliani said over the loudspeaker that your lawyers are not telling you the truth, Mr. President, things got very heated and that's when you think it turned on the wick. January 6, you know, the Oval Office is a place where it was always President Trump, he was in office, you never knew who you were going to meet. I had experienced it myself, you never knew who you were going to meet, but He was always dynamic, welcomed vigorous debate, was part of his decision making process and made many good and excellent decisions that the rest of me will be proud of. of my life for having been there, being a witness, but at that moment, eh. was a new low, do you think the president committed shouting, there was shouting, and after that meeting the president made the decision to replace his capable campaign lawyers with this ever-widening circle of outside lawyers that ultimately led to him the conclusion that He had the authority to overturn the election, which was demonstrably and historically false.

Do you believe the president committed a criminal act by fomenting the insurrection? I think they think a crime was committed. I don't know if it's criminal to hear bad words. The advice of the lawyers, the truth is that what the president was repeating is what he was hearing from that group of lawyers around him and you know that presidents, like all of us, in a certain public life, must trust their team, which they must trust. The credibility of the people around him and as time goes on I hope we can move Beyond this Beyond that perspective and this is really a time where our country should be healing and frankly the actions of the Department of Justice have been exposed during our Administration, where FBI agents to promote political agendas falsified records using what turned out to be opposition research paid for by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic Party, the so-called I file, and then this last summer when we see the justice department execute a search warrant against the personal residence of a former president of the United States.

I think the American people. I think the American people have joined me in hoping that we can overcome this argument. Are you above the law? I mean, yes he does. he broke the law if the same standard as me was applied to him. Chuck, no one is above the law, but I hope the justice department will care

full

y consider before taking further action in this matter, whether it's around January 6th or about the

classified

documents

well again let me about the

classified

documents

let me say um and as you can see in my book, I have not hesitated to criticize the president when I think he was wrong and he clearly has classified documents in an

unprotected

location.

The

area

is not suitable, but I have to tell you that I was on the Judiciary Committee for 10 years in the House of Representatives. I know how the Department of Justice works and there had to be many other ways to solve those problems. Those classified doctors who tried for a "Last year they didn't try everything and I have to tell you that they resorted to the last resort: executing a search warrant against a former president of the United States. I think it sent the wrong message, it was a divisive message in this country, but I think we did it.

Still, it was the wrong message for the rest of the world that sees the United States as the gold standard, and isn't it? Yes, no one is above the law in this country, that our democracy is so strong that it can handle the idea that you know, the former presidents commit a crime, they don't get a package, a Chuck, you follow him, you follow Foreign Affairs as closely as anyone in your business and it is much more common in the third world that when a leader arrives, the previous one is prosecuted in jail. The American leader should never be associated with that image at all and I truly believe and hope that the Department of Justice will carefully consider any further steps in that life.

He really must not have liked that the president, when he was in office, how many times he wanted to weaponize the IRS, he wanted to order, you've seen these reports, maybe he didn't say it in front of you, but do you think the former president respects these institutions? I would let him answer that, but I never had reason to believe that he did not respect the men and women who serve in law enforcement at all levels; In fact, everywhere we go in the country to this day, there are people in law enforcement who thank me for the support we gave them at At a time when the Democratic Party was giving voice to the police movement to defund and, um, and assuming the worst every time a tragic incident occurred in a police shooting, they saw in our Administration a thoughtful willingness to support law enforcement to look for the facts to find.

Justice Make sure justice is done, but throughout my time in the Trump Pence Administration I think it was very clear that our Administration stood with the men and women on the Thin Blue Line, whether they were federal agents or rank-and-file. serving on the streets of our cities is fine, but you yourself hit the FBI pretty hard and some accusations you made about politicization, you know how to square the two. I think the men and women who serve in the FBI, the bases, are some of the best people in the United States. Hey, I blame the leadership of the Department of Justice for the decision to execute a search warrant on the personal residence of a former president of the United States.

It is inconceivable to me that that was not the case. a decision that was made at the highest levels and was approved at the highest levels, the attorney general said it came out, he owned it, he owned it, that's correct and I think you should have thought better of it, Chuck, there were preliminary steps that I want I want to be very clear on this, if they had additional evidence that there were additional documents, they could have gone to court, they specifically did everything that you describe, they did before, they didn't want to do it the way they ended up.

Believe me, they didn't do everything they could have done and avoided this incredibly divisive step that sent the wrong message to the country and the wrong message to the world. If anything, I want to see the Justice Department and I think I think a new Republican majority is going to be a part of this I want to see I want to see the credibility of the justice department restored after years of politicization during the Trump Pence administration. I'm referring to what happened during Jim Comey's tenure in the 2016 campaign. the early days of our Administration the conduct of the FBI regarding the Russia collusion hoax time and time again when and as someone who appreciates men and women who serve in the department of justice and especially the FBI.

I think now is the time for them. focus on restoring public confidence in our institution has no confidence in the United States as Judge General Carl I. I have great difficulty with the decision he made. I have major concerns about his trial and his leadership of the justice department in the After that, I want to read some of your book because you mentioned Russia several times and wrote this about the collusion crowd you called, they never thought about how anxious they were. causing the American people the harm they were doing. to our institutions and The credibility of our elections the collusion crowd failed to take into account the environment they were creating, one in which hyperpartisans could see a dishonest attempt to overturn an election and wonder why they couldn't do the same with everything.

What did you say there? It could apply to Republicans who denied the results of the 2020 election, yes, but you're comparing four weeks of rhetoric to four years of Democratic Party leaders. I mean, Hillary Clinton said the election was stolen and she also admitted it the day after the election. the electoral right, so Donald Trump is still not worried, he admitted and then she spent two and a half years saying that the election was stolen, she said that Donald Trump, uh, was not a legitimate president over and over again, he was not just her as Democratic leaders in the United States Congress actually said but I'm going to go back to something two wrongs make a right let's I'm not saying let's accept let's accept that promise but what I wrote so help me God is that's basically you're saying that this It happened on January 6.

Things happened because the Democrats challenged the 2016 election, um, Chuck, I think I've been very clear: the people who put it on thecapitol on January 6 must be held to the strictest responsibility. of the law, but I do not want to ignore the fact that for four years his standard-bearer in 2016. many of his own party leaders are not only questioning the legitimacy of our Administration by suggesting that our campaign had colluded with a foreign power to win the election facilitated two and a half years of reckless accusations about that that culminated in nothing in a conclusion by the justice department that there was no collusion or obstruction, there was not much cooperation. by the Trump White House, I mean, I thought there was incredible cooperation in producing millions of pages of documents and, as long as there's half the main report about the obstruction and about the lack of cooperation and the attempts. to avoid information, I don't think any of us want to re-litigate the model, no one litigates it, but I totally agree with the conclusions that were drawn, but the most important thing was that there was no collusion at all, not two years and half.

They didn't find that, but I see what the Democrats how they square this for years, let me say this, keep going, I think for four years from your standard bearer and Hillary Clinton onwards to two and a half years of Russia-Russia. deception and then impeaching the president over a phone call there was a relentless effort to overturn the 2016 election and as I write in my book all that rhetoric and, frankly, many of your colleagues in the media who recklessly repeated accusations about Russian collusion and the fact that there was evidence of collusion that I never did, I never thought about what they were sowing in the body politic and what they could take advantage of some of the more extreme elements at the other end, that's fine, but in fact, the political spectrums do not They serve as an excuse for nothing, that's just saying.

I believe we need to move into a new season in America where we not only practice civility and mutual respect, but respect the outcome of elections administered by states certified by Congress. What do you think of what your good friend? Dan Coats, who was Director of National Intelligence during his administration, where he couldn't understand President Trump's behavior when it came to Vladimir Putin and told Bob Woodward that he thought, "Well, maybe Putin has something that I don't know and I can not explain". David Coates is not a guy who just spouts conspiracy theories, you know that well.

I was always very clear about two things, number one. I never needed anyone's advice about Vladimir Putin in the 2016 debate. I called him a small, intimidating leader in Russia. I know when a running mate never did, a previous Republican president said he looked him in the eyes, saw the soul of he. I like what John McCain said. I looked him in the eyes and I got a good look at the KGB and I hate that view, but President Trump made a decision. different approach not only with Vladimir Putin but, frankly, with every different potential adversary around the world and that was essentially to lure them in through a sort of charm offensive but at the same time apply the hammer of American force on the relationship to boost politics. and results, I mean, in fact, our Administration was tougher on Russia from very early on than any predecessor in the 20th century, why do you think Putin ordered so many people to help the Trump/Pence candidacy?

Because while there was no evidence of collusion, there was evidence of interference now, Chuck, I have to correct you on that, but you haven't had all the briefings that I've had about what Russia did in the 2016 election, what I said on the record. many times when Russia interfered in the 2016 elections in both. sides the Russian model is propaganda on both sides to sow division in countries they have been doing it all over Eastern Europe for many years they have been doing it in Western countries and they did it in the United States without favoring one side or the other it also seemed that they favored one side in this case the way they amplified is not what the Mueller report found the Mueller report found that they sowed division in both they did it a little bit at Bernie's site during the Democratic primaries I heard you, but during the general it was about amplifying Trump, thank you, thank you for admitting that no, I understand that in the primaries that was true, but it was an obsession of theirs to target Hillary Clinton, whether it was Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump when I met Vladimir Putin before our mid-term elections in Singapore.

He asked for a private moment to have a conversation. It wasn't very private. He had a dozen people around him. He had a dozen people around me, but after he brought up topics like disarmament at an upcoming meeting. Argentine Summit I told President Putin, I have something I want to tell you and he said: go ahead and I told him: we know what happened in 2016 and it cannot happen again. He immediately feigned ignorance and turned to his foreign secretary, Lavrov, speaking in Russia. like he didn't understand me and then he nodded slowly and started saying in Russian that it wasn't us, we didn't do anything about it and I said, I said President Putin, I'm very aware of your public statements about this, but we know what happened and you can't happen again and the truth is that when the case of Russia came, it was our Administration that also confronted Nordstrom, the gas pipeline that was making Europe more dependent, it was our Administration that eliminated more than a hundred Russian mercenary soldiers in Syria without a single American casualty, it was our Administration that stood firm against Russia strengthening NATO demanding that our NATO allies fulfill their commitment to our common defense, so when you asked me, understand what, what, what a president Trump's focus was on Russia.

I honestly think it was a combined approach. It was one of the ways he got Kim Jong-un in North Korea to stop testing nuclear weapons and firing missiles and actually come to the peace table. It was a maybe it was something he learned, nothing has been resolved, maybe it was his real estate style, being friendly and then being very, very tough, uh, that was a model that resonated, we made great progress and, frankly, I think that the lack of the credible threat of the use of force that we established in our Administration with cruise missiles into Syria on two occasions, eliminating Qasim Solomoni and crushing the ISIS caliphate is one of the reasons why the Trump Administration Pence is the only Administration in the 21st century where Russia did not do it. attempt to redraw the International Lines by force, they knew there would be consequences, they knew we were serious and I think that was an approach that had great merit.

I want to move on to some things from his days as vice president, uncovet and us. I've talked a little bit about that, does it bother you how much Dr. Fauci was vilified during the pandemic response and I'll never forget the day President Trump asked me to lead the White House coronavirus task force late February, he asked me if I would be willing to do it. He had been governor. He understood the role of states in public health emergencies. We had faced two public health emergencies when he was governor of Indiana, including the first case of MERS to appear in the United States.

States of America, a virus more contagious and more lethal many times than the coven. I looked at the president as he told it. God helped me and said: I am here to serve and I huddled with what had been the beginnings of the coronavirus in the White House. task force that included several health experts from the CDC and Dr. Fauci from the NIH and others, but I immediately knew it was important that we strike a balance. I added the Secretary of the Treasury so we could reflect on developing advice. to get the president thinking about the broader impact on our economy, I brought in the secretary of agriculture while we talked about the impact on the food supply in the country, we brought in people like Larry Kudlow, economic experts who would really help the president have a A balanced view of any decision we made was always about saving American lives, but a president has to have the big picture and I have to tell him like I wrote it and God help me, I think in the early days of the coronavirus task force, Dr.

Fauci was a great source of comfort to millions of Americans, he had a calm manner with the patients that he communicated at the podium and, as I said, we always had a good relationship in those days because Dr. Fauci in my time led the task force um always. he stayed in his lane he was always the first to say I'm the scientist at the table I'm going to tell you I'm going to tell you what the scientific perspective is but almost invariably he said I know the president there's a lot more to consider than that, you have to think about the broader impact on the American public and the country as a whole and, for me, in those early days it made an enormous difference in the development of a very balanced policy that empowers the states and ignites the entrepreneurial spirit of the companies of across the country to develop the supplies, the masks, and ultimately the medications and the vaccines in record time, but I have to tell you that when the Biden administration came in and essentially handed over the management. of covid to Dr.

Fauci I was not surprised to see them put all their emphasis on vaccines and then, after having promised that they would not require vaccines, they tried to force vaccines on Americans, which is still a mandate for health care workers and the military personnel. today that was the medical approach and I think when President Biden came in and essentially gave power to Dr. Fauci, I think the American people recoiled from that approach and, um, and unfortunately the Biden administration lost more Americans in its first year with covid that in our first year, a year in which we had none of the tools, some supplies, no testing, ultimately no medications until the end, no vaccines would be needed, I mean this vaccine you were very irritating that did.

I'm sure people saw that you got the vaccine right, the reason we had all these deaths was because people weren't getting vaccinated, I mean, it was a stew that was boiling in some of these, you know, conservative internet circles. . I know it's me. I know that's forgiveness, but that's the cliché in the national debate abroad. The counties respect Chuck. I don't understand. You know, data is data. The Biden Administration focused exclusively on vaccines. Our Administration focused on empowering states to provide them with supplies. countermeasures for nursing homes, making sure we have therapies available and distributed, there should have been a high-speed operation on therapies, the Biden administration literally halted testing development and ran out of tests in the spring of his first year , there was no effort. to develop life-saving therapies across the country, you don't accept the idea that maybe both administrations had problems with testing.

I mean, well, no, we didn't have uh, we coveted testing when I was elected to lead the White House coronavirus task force. With Testing Innovation, we reinvent testing from the ground up. I mean, we had done 8,000 Covid tests at the end of February, but by June because of American innovation because of the American companies that we tapped and empowered to develop those technologies, we were literally testing tens of millions of people a month. , hence the chapter title of my book, Help Me, God is Only in America. I mean, we're going to debate these and we should debate our nation's response to covid for many, many years and learn the lessons from this, but I want to make sure that we always give credit to the healthcare workers, the first responders, the workers. from the grocery stores, all the incredible innovative medical companies and research companies in this nation that helped us get through those early dark days. and they have left the coveted pandemic in the past and continue to be the smear of Dr.

Fauci. Did he explain why it happened? It should have happened. It's fair? Is it fair what President Trump has said about them and what some of his critics think? This has been pretty good, this is a freedom-loving nation and from the beginning we asked the American people to make sacrifices in those 15 days to slow the spread so what was happening in New York, New Jersey , New Orleans, Detroit and Seattle wouldn't happen everywhere, that we wouldn't run out of supplies in our hospitals, that Americans wouldn't be denied hospital beds, that the American people would bear that burden, but the shutdowns were always just a temporary effort to essentially kneel while spinning. marshal the supplies and resources to ensure that no country in the United States is denied the health care that you would want any member of your family to have, the problem was that I think Dr.

Fauci ultimately aligned himself with many Democratic governors who took what were temporary policies and made them politicallong term in your state and the American people love freedom, is that wrong? I mean, whatever you think of the decision, they say, American people of liberty, these Democratic governors in their minds were just trying. to save lives, do you accept that? Look, I never judge people's intentions, but I do judge their policies and the truth is that we created a framework in those early days to call for a pause in our economy so that we could ensure that our health care workers would not be lacking. the supplies, resources, masks and gowns that you would need to face this moment, this pandemic that is unfolding, the worst pandemic in a hundred years, but I have to tell you that one of the things that I am most proud of is that our administration the most As quickly as possible, in mid-April, he established a framework to open up America again and I'm proud of the Republican governors who stepped up Governor Governor Brian Kemp, who I mentioned before, was the first governor in the United States to open up Governor Ron DeSantis Shortly after, Governor Doug Ducey in Arizona opened up his states and made sure their schools opened, but I was very disappointed when many Democrats across the country, for reasons I found inexplicable, continued to impose the type of closures on their economy that destroy their schools. that was unjustifiable, you know, it's largely lost in the public debate.

Our Administration never said schools should be closed. In fact, I remember meeting at the Department of Education with Secretary Betsy DeVos in the summer of 2020 just for the sole purpose of getting our health together. The experts look at their cameras and say open the schools, we can get our children back into the classrooms safely and the recent educational report cards that have come out prove the fact that we have paid a very high price for the states that closed . There are many issues I want to get to, but I want to ask you one thing about abortion.

Do you support a national ban? Are you very happy with this? I'm right. Would you like to see a federal law? abortion ban, you know, I write about my commitment to the sanctity of life, so God help me a lot and I must tell you and you who have written a book that no, you meet deadlines and you don't always get everything you want. and I have to tell you that it was a great joy to me when I was putting the finishing touches on this book to be able to reflect on the fact that after 49 years with three Supreme Court justices appointed to our Administration we gave the American people a new beginning for the life The Dove decision not only overturned Roe v Wade but it raised the issue of abortion again to the states and the American people and I celebrate that from the bottom of my heart you know that when I was a young man.

The most important decision I made was when I put my faith in Jesus Christ I opened the Bible I read verses like before I formed you in the womb I knew you and I said before you life and death now choose life so that you and your children can live. I knew at that moment, a decade before I came to Congress, that the cause of life had to be my cause and I must tell you that Chuck, having been able to defend life in Congress and as Governor, but having been part of an Administration That he gave the American people this new start in life is something I will cherish for the rest of my life and it is the most important achievement they have in mind in the administration.

I truly believe in the opportunity to restore holiness. of life at the center of American law may be among the most important legacies of the Trump Pence administration, if not the most important, but I would also say with respect to your question: when, when Senator Graham introduced legislation to establish a abortion ban with 15 wheat? um I thought it was helpful if he had still been a member of Congress he would have voted for it. It was useful in the sense of showing that the Democrats' position is the extreme position in which the Democratic Party today supports abortion on demand so far. of birth and taxpayer funding of abortion, but I recognize that this issue is likely to be resolved one state at a time, some states have already acted to advance the cause of life and I have told people that when the Dove decision was overturned, we have not reached the end, we have reached the end of the beginning and Chuck, it may take so many years to restore the sanctity of life at the center of American law in every state. of this country like those it took to overturn Roe versus way.

But as long as I have breath, are you a limited guy? Are you a limited government guy? I know this, you, and you really are, are you comfortable with the idea of ​​an essentially government-mandated pregnancy? someone doesn't want this child doesn't want this pregnancy to move forward you are now defending a law that essentially the government is ordering you to move forward with this pregnancy do you feel comfortable with a government mandate like that? The people of Kansas were not our founding documents say that we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights and the first one mentioned is life and I believe that the government exists to protect life, particularly defenseless life and I intend to be a part of this, but I think we have an opportunity, Chuck, to approach this debate in a new and renewed way.

You know that when the Supreme Court took this issue away from the American people 49 years ago, there were strong dividing lines that have endured for two generations, but now we have a political debate and we have the opportunity to not only craft thoughtful protections for the unborn . but also to expand protection and support for women in crisis pregnancies and newborns. I would like to see us redouble our efforts to demonstrate the compassion of the American people to live the idea that there is no unwanted child and that in the freest and most prosperous nation in the history of the world, we can make that a reality. .

Do you believe that the unborn have constitutional rights? I don't think they have them in our law right now, but do you think they should? I believe in the right to life and I believe. Do you believe that an unborn fetus has a constitutional right? Look, we are protected in this country and denied life or liberty without due process of law and I think those protections should be extended to the born and the unborn, but this is a long-term cause. and it will be both moral suasion in America and political, shouldn't it be there? Should it be moral suasion and not government mandate?

I think I truly believe now that it has returned to the picture of the political process that we have an incredible opportunity to demonstrate the true heart and compassion of the American people in this cause to persuade our neighbors and friends until the day when abortion is not only illegal but unthinkable and when that day comes, it will one day be instituted into law. After all, many women are uncomfortable with the idea of ​​a politician making this decision for them. I understand that yes, but I truly believe that restoring the sanctity of life to the center of the law in every state in this country is at the very heart of achieving a future without limits for this for the American people Mr.

Vice President, I appreciate the moment, it's a pleasure to see you, thanks Chuck, it was a pleasure to see you, thanks for watching our YouTube channel, follow today's top stories and breaking news by downloading the NBC News app