Mike Pence Laughs Nervously When Asked About Trump’s Twitter Claim On ABC Interview [Video]
Mike Pence was in an awkward situation today when he went back on This Week with host George Stephanopoulos and was asked about Donald Trump’s claim on Twitter that millions of people voted illegally. So much so that at one point, Mike Pence let out a nervous laugh that seemed like anxiety might have been getting the better of him.
In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
When George Stephanopoulos asked Mike Pence if it was okay that the president-elect made false claims on Twitter, Pence was under the gun once again to “tap-dance” around a “yes or no” question.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hHL_6s5eR8
Although Mike Pence did not directly answer George Stephanopoulos’ question, he did tip-toe around it and attempted to bring light to other issues that might suggest he was trying to support the claim, but none that achieved any factual evidence that supports Donald Trump’s assertion on Twitter, according to the Washington Post.
Vice President-elect @mike_pence will be discussing the transition coming up on @ThisWeekABC with @GStephanopoulos. pic.twitter.com/Z6ICddCIpJ
— Marc Lotter (@marc_lotter) December 4, 2016
“I think what, you know, what is — what is historic here is that our president-elect won 30 to 50 states, he won more counties than any candidate on our side since Ronald Reagan,” Mike Pence said in response. “And the fact that some partisans, who are frustrated with the outcome of the election and disappointed with the outcome of the election, are pointing to the popular vote, I can assure you, if this had been about the popular vote, Donald Trump and I have been campaigning a whole lot more in Illinois and California and New York.”
But George Stephanopoulos was not going to let Mike Pence get off that easy. In the past, the two have had similar conversations about controversial issues and legislation and if the past is any indicator, George Stephanopoulos was going to keep on grilling Mike Pence until he gave a viable answer.
“I’m asking just about that tweet, which I want to say that he said he would have won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally,” George Stephanopoulos asked Mike Pence, once again. “That statement is false. Why is it responsible to make it?”
Throughout the interview, Mike Pence continued to dance around the question and never really directly answered George Stephanopoulos’ question, instead making a claim that Donald Trump is entitled to express his opinion, even if he is the president-elect of the United States.
Watch Mike Pence try to defend Trump’s false claim that “millions” voted illegally https://t.co/ccFYGBUqXt
— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) December 4, 2016
“Well, look, I think he’s expressed his opinion on that. And he’s entitled to express his opinion on that,” Mike Pence said. “And I think the American people — I think the American people find it very refreshing that they have a president who will tell them what’s on his mind.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgZk6gxiHqw
As previously mentioned, this is not the first time that Mike Pence has refused to answer a question that was posed to him by ABC’s This Week host, George Stephanopoulos. As governor of Indiana, Mike Pence also signed into law the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which essentially made it okay for small business owners to discriminate against gay or lesbian couples based on their sexual orientation.
On seven different occasions in the interview, George Stephanopoulos asked Mike Pence if it was now legal to discriminate against gay people in the state of Indiana. Not once did Mike Pence answer with a yes or no. Instead, he opted to use similar “tap-dancing” around the question and diverted George Stephanopoulos’ question to make light of something else that better favored his position on the issue.
Mike Pence had originally professed that he was not going to change the RFRA law in Indiana, but later back-pedaled on it after national pressure and made revisions to the Indiana law.
[Featured Image by Ty Wright/Getty Images]
