“He Didn’t Choose His Words Well”: Pence Insists Trump Doesn’t Want To Impose Muslim Ban
Fresh off of his ‘victory’ at the vice-presidential debate this week, GOP VP nominee Mike Pence made the rounds of morning talk shows Thursday. During one of his stops, he basically disavowed his running mate’s previous proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the United States, stating that this is no longer the campaign’s official policy.
Facing off with New Day host Chris Cuomo, Pence was asked about defending Donald Trump’s controversial positions and comments, specifically the Muslim ban he proposed last December. According to Pence, he no longer needs to defend that plan because it is no longer what Trump believes.
“Well, because it’s not Donald Trump’s position now,” Pence responded to Cuomo’s question about the ban. He then, curiously, told the CNN anchor that he didn’t know him as long as Cuomo, saying “you’ve known him for a long time, Chris. I haven’t known him that long at all.” That was, um, strange.
After some more back and forth about the ban and Trump’s statements on illegal immigration with Pence complaining about the media bringing up the “oldies” of the campaign, the Indiana Governor claimed that the whole issue is really that Trump just didn’t use the right words at the time.
From New Day’s transcript:
“Donald Trump has made his positions very clear on illegal immigration, on suspending immigration from countries compromised by terrorism, and – and – and, frankly, I understand why the other side wants to keep bringing up prior statements earlier in the campaign. Donald Trump has said in this campaign that – that he has regretted the times that – that he didn’t choose his words well, particularly where it’s created, you know, personal pain for people. He’s spoken openly about that.”
Just for the record, the statement hyping up the complete ban on Muslims entering the United States is still on the Trump campaign’s official website. So, despite the gaslighting and obfuscation from Pence and other members of the Trump team, the campaign is still floating this as a policy position.
Below is video of the segment, courtesy of CNN:
