Pence calls Trump indictment ‘an outrage’

Former Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday called a Manhattan grand jury’s decision to indict former President Trump an “outrage,” and declined to say if Trump should drop out of the 2024 race if he’s convicted.

“The unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States on a campaign finance issue is an outrage,” Pence said on CNN. “And it appears to millions of Americans to be nothing more than a political prosecution that’s driven by a prosecutor who literally ran for office on a pledge to indict the former president.”

A grand jury voted earlier Thursday to indict Trump on criminal charges for his role in organizing hush money payments made to an adult film star during his 2016 campaign.

The indictment, which remains under seal, follows an investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) that centered on a $130,000 payment fixer Michael Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels shortly before the election.

Trump is expected to be arraigned next week, and his team and Bragg’s office are working on arranging his surrender to authorities.

Trump and his allies have widely decried the indictment as a political prosecution intended to damage his standing atop the polls in a GOP 2024 primary race.

Pence, who was steadfastly loyal to Trump during his time serving alongside him in the White House, is weighing weather to run for the White House in 2024.

Asked by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer whether Trump should be disqualified from being the 2024 presidential nominee or drop out of the race, Pence said “it’s a long way to that decision.” 

“I promise to answer that question if that approaches,” Pence said, adding that he did not want to talk about “hypotheticals.”