Pence: ‘Absolutely False’ to Suggest I Considered Dropping Off of the Ticket

Monday on CNN’s “New Day,” GOP vice-presidential nominee Gov. Mike Pence (R-IN) denied he had ever considered dropping out of the race upon the release of audio of his running mate Donald Trump making lewd comments on a hot mic to then-“Access Hollywood” anchor Billy Bush when asked by host Alisyn Camerota.

Pence would not reveal his private conversations about the matter, but pointed out that Trump had apologized and said the election was more about the choice of Trump or Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

“Well, you know, I’ll always keep my conversation with Donald Trump and my family private,” Pence said. “But it’s absolutely false to suggest that at any point in time we considered dropping off this ticket. It’s a greatest honor of my life to have been nominated by my party to be the next vice president of the United States of America. Look, politics is a very tough business. I get that. This is my first time, Alisyn, at the — at the national level. And the fact is that, you know, I — as I said on Saturday, you know, I couldn’t condone, I couldn’t defend those remarks. I encouraged Donald Trump on Friday to apologize for them. He did. He expressed his personal remorse.”

But I also encouraged him Saturday to take that to the American people to show his heart. And when he said on national television he wasn’t proud of it, he was embarrassed by it, I do believe that he expressed himself straight from his heart to the American people. But — but then he moved on. And in the next 90 minutes, the American people saw a dramatic choice between someone who is speaking boldly about the challenges facing this country, and someone who, when their confronted with their own record, when they’re confronted with the controversies unfurling out of the Clinton Foundation, or her speeches on Wall Street, just obfuscated or ignored or refused to respond. And I — I think in Donald Trump you’ve got someone who’s willing to step up, speak boldly and plainly from his heart and his mind and Hillary Clinton, when she’s confronted on speeches on Wall Street, she gave us a one minute lecture on Abraham Lincoln and never answered any of the questions that were posed.

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