Trump lashes out at Pence after former VP criticized his abortion platform
Former President Trump lashed out at his former vice president in the wee hours of Wednesday over disagreement on abortion policy.
Trump published on his proprietary social media site, Truth Social, a furious tirade against former Vice President Mike Pence.
“Former Vice President (thank you President Trump!) Mike Pence has been doing a lot of talking about Abortion lately. He never felt I would be able to kill Roe v Wade and bring it back to the States where, according to all legal scholars, it belongs,” Trump wrote.
PENCE BLASTS TRUMP’S ‘SLAP IN THE FACE’ ANNOUNCEMENT ON KEY ISSUE FOR CHRISTIAN VOTERS
Republican presidential candidate former President Trump speaks during an awards ceremony held at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
“He started at no abortion for any reason, and then allowing abortions for up to 6 weeks, then up to 15 weeks, and then, who knows?” the former president asserted.
The comment appears to be a reference to various pro-life bills proposed or backed by Pence that sought to restrict abortion at the state or national level.
The former vice president has been a consistent pro-life advocate since his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000. He has maintained for his entire political career that the termination of an embryo is morally unacceptable at any stage.
The criticism also seems to use recycled language from a previous post attacking Sen. Lindsey Graham, whom he said “wanted no Abortions under any circumstances, then he was up to 6 weeks, where you’re allowed Abortion, now he’s up to 15 weeks.”
TRUMP SAYS ABORTION SHOULD BE DECIDED BY THE STATES, ‘WILL OF THE PEOPLE’
Pro-choice and anti-abortion demonstrators rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
“But it doesn’t matter because the Radical Left Democrats will never approve anything on this issue, and Republicans don’t have anywhere close to the number of Senators necessary to make it matter,” Trump continued in his late night criticism. “Mike has been getting very bad advice from Mark Long, & others. That’s why he’s polling at 1%. With better advice, he would be polling at a solid 2%, and maybe even more!!!”
The “Mark Long” referenced in the post is most likely a nickname for Marc Short, Pence’s former chief of staff while he was vice president. Short is now the chairman of Pence’s advocacy group, Advancing American Freedom.
“Everyone must ask Democrats if they would allow abortions in the 7th, 8th, or 9th month, or allow the execution of a baby after birth, as was suggested by the former Democrat Governor of Virginia,” Trump concluded. “They are the Radicals, not the Republicans!”
The sudden and scattershot criticism of Pence is most likely due to the former vice president speaking out against Trump’s abortion policy plan.
Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Pence charged on Monday that Trump’s decision not to support a federal ban on abortion is a “retreat on the Right to Life” and “a slap in the face to the millions of pro-life Americans.”
The former vice president’s statement came a few hours after Trump took credit for the decision two years ago by the conservative majority on the Supreme Court that overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, which had legalized abortion nationwide.
However, Trump declined to support the push by social conservatives to ban abortion at the federal level and emphasized his support for states determining their own laws for abortion so long as there are exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother.
In a statement on social media, Pence argued, “President Trump’s retreat on the Right to Life is a slap in the face to the millions of pro-life Americans who voted for him in 2016 and 2020. By nominating and standing by the confirmation of conservative justices, the Trump-Pence Administration helped send Roe v. Wade to the ash heap of history where it belongs and gave the pro-life movement the opportunity to compassionately support women and unborn children.”
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Republican presidential candidate former Vice President Mike Pence speaks at the Clinton County GOP Hog Roast in Clinton, Iowa. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
The former vice president lamented that “too many Republican politicians are all too ready to wash their hands of the battle for life.”
Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
