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Former Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday that the second administration of President Donald Trump has “departed” from traditional conservative principle in the president’s second term.
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“I think what’s lesser known right now is the way the second Trump administration has departed from the conservative agenda that we governed on, the conservative agenda that has defined the Republican Party since the days of Ronald Reagan, and before that an agenda of American leadership, limited government, free market economics, the right to life,” Pence, who served as Trump’s vice president from 2017 to 2021, told NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
He added that “on a number of those issues the president’s been good” in the past.
The former vice president added that despite Trump’s lack of focus on traditional conservative principles, he still has a “hold” on core Republican voters.
“I don’t think there’s any question about the president’s popularity,” Pence said, adding, “I give him all the credit in the world for the hold that he has on Republican voters.”
The former vice president said he still believes GOP voters align with the party’s core conservative principles, telling “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker, “I still believe, Kristen, that the overwhelming majority of people that ever vote Republican, believe in freedom, believe in limited government, believe in traditional values, and I think if Republicans this fall and in 2028 hold up those time-honored conservative principles, those voters will rally to our cause.”
Pence was particularly critical of the Justice Department’s “anti-weaponization fund,” which includes nearly $1.8 billion that could be paid out to people who believe they’ve been unfairly targeted by the federal government. (A federal judge last week temporarily blocked the fund.)
“I think that the weaponization fund is a bad idea from the start, and I would encourage the administration just to drop it,” the former vice president said.
He called the notion that Jan. 6 rioters who were charged and sentenced for their actions at the Capitol in 2021 could receive payouts from the Justice Department “deeply offensive.” Upon taking office for his second term, Trump pardoned roughly 1,500 people who were charged for their actions that day.
Pence, who was at the Capitol to certify the 2020 elections results when the Jan. 6 riot broke out and had to be evacuated from the complex, added that he believes his negative view of the fund is shared by most Republicans and most Americans.
“I mean it’s deeply offensive to me that you could have a fund that could even possibly compensate people who assaulted police officers or vandalized the Capitol on January 6, and I think that’s broadly held by most Republicans and most Americans,” the former vice president said.
Alexandra Marquez is a politics reporter for NBC News.
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