WASHINGTON – Donald Trump has chosen Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate, adding political experience and conservative bona fides to his Republican presidential ticket.
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Pence said the Trump can be the leader that the US needs.
“Today’s news gives a similar hope that Mike Pence will be effective in pulling the Republican ticket toward economic conservatism and limited government”, the group said. Trump announced his decision on Twitter Friday morning, capping a frenzied 24 hours of speculation about his choice.
The event took place after a chaotic vice presidential selection process, that included an eleventh-hour period of late night second guessing by Trump on Thursday about whether he had made the right choice, multiple sources have told CNN.
The presumptive Republican nominee introduced the IN governor at a Manhattan hotel two days before the start of the Republican National Convention.
“Reasonable people can disagree about whether we should have gone into Iraq”, he said.
Pence added, “What I’ve heard from Donald Trump, and I believe the position he’s articulated that resonates with millions of Americans, is that we’ve got to find out what’s going on, and we’ve got to do something different, and we’ve got to put the safety and security of the American people first”.
Pence does not support trade protectionism or a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, two policies that are central to Trump’s campaign message.
Mrs Clinton spent Friday holding meetings in Washington about her own vice-presidential choice. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a favorite of liberals and one of the Democrats’ most effective Trump critics, was seen in a vehicle that left Clinton’s home.
Pence, who beat out former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, was helped by “immediate chemistry” between his family and Trump’s, who spent time together this week in Indianapolis.
But on Friday, Pence, lacking nuance, asserted: “I am very supportive of Donald Trump’s call to temporarily suspend immigration from countries where terrorists influence and impact represents a threat to the United States”. Trump was in California for fundraisers, separated from his closest aides, and was fuming about leaks that he viewed as an attempt to pressure him into the decision.
Still, the billionaire called Pence Thursday afternoon to offer him the job and ask him to fly to NY for a Friday morning news conference.
A few hours later, a huge truck barreled through a crowded holiday celebration in Nice, France.
Trump held a midnight conference call with his top aides to discuss the situation, according to two people with knowledge of the call.
The Roll Call newspaper was the first to report that Trump would pick the governor of IN as his vice presidential running mate.
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State law prohibits candidates from being on ballots in two contests, and Pence faced a noon Friday deadline for withdrawing from the governor’s race. “Never waffled once he made his decision”, Manafort wrote in an email.
