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Quick Take
Former Vice President Mike Pence has said he will not endorse former President Donald Trump in the 2024 election, but Pence has also said he “could never” vote for Trump’s opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. An edited video on social media misleadingly purports to show Pence endorsing Harris. He did not.
Full Story
In the days leading up to and on Jan. 6, 2021, when Congress met to count the electoral votes and certify the 2020 election, former President Donald Trump repeatedly pressured then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject legitimate electoral votes and send them back to the state legislatures to decide, according to the indictment against Trump filed in August 2023.
But on Jan. 7, Pence announced the certified results and declared then-Vice President Joe Biden the victor, as we’ve written.
Since then, Pence has distanced himself from Trump. When Pence announced his campaign for president in June 2023, he said, “I believe that anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States,” referring to Trump.
During the first Republican primary debate on Aug. 23, 2023, however, Pence indicated that he would support Trump if the former president were chosen as the party’s nominee. Then in March, Pence announced in a Fox News interview that he would not endorse Trump for the 2024 election.
In August, Pence appeared at a forum for conservative leaders hosted by former Fox News commentator Erick Erickson, where he expanded on his decision, saying, “I cannot endorse President Trump’s continuing assertion that I should have set aside my oath to support and defend the Constitution and acted in a way that would’ve overturned the election in January 2021.”
In both interviews, Pence also made it clear he has no intention of supporting the Democratic ticket.
During his appearance at the conservative forum, Pence said, “I could never vote for Kamala Harris as president of the United States or Tim Walz as her running mate. Period. Paragraph.”
But social media users have clipped Pence’s remarks at the forum so that he appears to be endorsing Vice President Harris.
An Oct. 14 post on Threads shared a version of the video, in which Pence’s first three words have been edited out. In the video, he appears to say, “Vote for Kamala Harris as president of the United States or Tim Walz as her running mate. Period. Paragraph.”
The video was also shared to Instagram with the caption, “MIKE PENCE CAUTIONS AMERICANS TO VOTE FOR HARRIS/WALZ.”
But the video shared on social media cuts out the context that makes it clear Pence was not endorsing Harris for president.
Harris has received some support from prominent Republicans and former Trump allies, including former Rep. Liz Cheney and former White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here. Facebook has no control over our editorial content.
Sources
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Erickson, Erick. “Vice President Mike Pence at The Gathering.” Video. YouTube. 12 Aug 2024.
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Farley, Robert, et al. “Q&A on Trump’s Jan. 6 Indictment.” FactCheck.org. 1 Aug 2023.
Inside Radio. “Radio Host Erickson’s ‘The Gathering’ Set for Next Week.” 29 Jul 2024.
Miller, Zeke, et al. “Biden drops out of 2024 race after disastrous debate inflamed age concerns. VP Harris gets his nod.” AP. 21 Jul 2024.
O’Kane, Caitlin. “The GOP candidates were asked if they would support Trump as the presidential nominee if he was convicted. Here’s how they responded.” CBS. 24 Aug 2023.
Quinn, Melissa. “Republicans who have endorsed Kamala Harris and spoken out against Trump.” CBS. 3 Oct 2024.
Stracqualursi, Veronica. “Pence announces 2024 White House run, arguing Trump ‘should never’ be president again.” CNN. 7 Jun 2023.
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. United States v. Donald J. Trump. Case 1:23-cr-00257-TSC. 1 Aug 2023.