Donald Trump indictment: Pence calls for attorney general to address the nation
Mabinty Quarshie
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Former Vice President Mike Pence called for Attorney General Merrick Garland to address the nation about the Department of Justice’s unprecedented indictment of former President Donald Trump, in his first public remarks since the news broke Thursday evening.
Appearing on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show Friday morning, Pence was adamant that the public doesn’t understand the facts of the indictment against Trump and that it should be “unsealed” for transparency. Trump announced on his social media platform Truth Social Wednesday evening that the Justice Department charged him over allegations that he mishandled classified documents after leaving the White House.
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“I want to remind people that we don’t know the facts of this case. We don’t have any idea what’s in it,” said Pence. “I think before the sun sets today, [the] attorney general of the United States should be standing in front of the American people, should unseal this indictment, should provide the American people with all the facts and information here.”
Pence had said he hoped the Justice Department wouldn’t move forward with an indictment during a CNN town hall on Wednesday evening but told Hewitt in the wake of the news that he was “deeply troubled” over Trump’s latest legal woes. However, Pence reiterated a familiar phrase of his that he’s used in recent days: “no one is above the law.”
“We have to protect our nation’s secrets and my only hope is, as we learn about the facts of this indictment next week, that the American people will see in this case that it would meet a high standard necessary to justify the unprecedented federal indictment of a former president of the United States by the current president of the United States’s Justice Department and by a potential rival,” Pence said.
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Going one step further, Pence, who launched a presidential campaign in Iowa Wednesday, said if he is elected as president he would “clean house” of several federal agencies, including FBI Director Christopher Wray.
“If I become president, the United States we’re going to clean house all across the top floors, whether it’s the Justice Department or whether it’s the FBI,” Pence said. “I just think we need a whole new team. I think there’s been literally a collapse of confidence.”