Fact Check: Pence Falsely Claims Trump’s Foreign Policy Agenda Signals Retreat from ‘America’s Role’ as World Leader

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JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
Nick Gilbertson

Claim: Former Vice President Mike Pence claimed on CNN Sunday the Hamas terror attack on Israel “is what happens when we have leading voices like Donald Trump” and others in the Republican primary field, “signaling retreat from America’s role as leader of the free world.” 

Verdict: False. Trump promoted a “peace through strength” foreign policy agenda throughout his time as president and brokered the historic Abraham Accords between Israel and some Arab nations in the Middle East in addition to moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem – accomplishments Pence has lauded and boasted of as recently as August. Moreover, Trump, as a 2024 presidential candidate, has doubled down on the foreign policy enacted in his administration, stating, “I will return to a foreign policy that puts AMERICA FIRST, so that we can once again have PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH.”

Pence’s comments came while speaking with CNN host Dana Bash on State of The Union, as Breitbart News noted: 

Bash: I want to focus sort on what you had to say about some of your fellow Republicans. You said that this is what happens when leaders in the Republican Party signal American retreat as leaders of the free world. Weakness aroused evil. Are you talking about your former running mate?

Pence: Well, I am, but let me begin where we ought to start. That disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan has emboldened the enemies of freedom around the world, and now war is raging in Eastern Europe. And President Joe Biden’s kowtowing to Iran, lifting sanctions, begging them to get back into the Iran nuclear deal. Paying $6 billion in ransom for hostages, I think, set the conditions for this unprecedented terrorist attack by Hamas against Israel. But I also believe this is what happens when we have leading voices like Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis signaling retreat from America’s role as leader of the free world. What happened in Ukraine was an unprovoked invasion by Russia. What happened this weekend was an unprovoked invasion by Hamas into Israel. I really believe now more than ever both the debate within the Republican Party and the debate within America is whether or not we are going to stand once again without apology as the leader of the free world.

During Trump’s presidency, he worked to stabilize relations in the Middle East through his “peace through strength” foreign policy agenda, exemplified in the Abraham Accords, which was a historic agreement between Israel, the United Arab Eremites, and Bahrain in 2020 to establish peace and normalize diplomatic relations between the countries.

Within weeks, Sudan, Morocco, and Kosovo also joined the agreement. 

Pence lauded the Abraham Accords and the Trump administration’s work in the Middle East as recently as August at Polaris National Security’s “America the Great Tour” when asked how he would “deal with Iran if he were elected” president.

Pence said: 

You remember back in the day… we moved the American embassy to Jerusalem, we stood strong against Iran, we proposed unprecedented sanctions on them, and everybody said, ‘This is going to… destabilize the region. There’s going to be war in the region.’ In fact… I was sitting there on the lawn of the front row of the South Lawn of the White House, senator, when we signed the first peace deal in the Middle East in 25 years, the Abraham Accords. 

He then said the Biden administration had “essentially gone the exact opposite direction” of the Trump administration, “going back to the politics of appeasement with Iran, begging them to get back in the Iran nuclear deal.” 

After his appearance on CNN Sunday, Pence tweeted out the portion of the clip where he criticized Trump, Ramaswamy, and DeSantis.

Donald Trump Jr. responded in a tweet by calling him the “embodiment of the weakness that led to this” and said, “you should have paid attention when you were groveling at the feet of the master.” 

“Trump brought peace because the world knew — F around and find out! We’ll never return to the failed approach of you and your uniparty fools,” he added. 

The 45th president said Saturday, following Hamas’s attack, that “Israel has every right to defend itself with overwhelming force.”

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