Former Vice President briefly emerged from obscurity to lash out at President Donald Trump during a CNN interview on Monday with Kaitlan Collins.
The former vice president criticized his former boss over his policies related to the war in Ukraine, tariffs, and pardoning those convicted of crimes related to the riot at the US Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021.
During the interview, Pence stated, "I’m going to try and be a consistent voice for those conservative values that I think are not only the right policy for the Republican Party, but I think they’re the best way forward for a boundless future for the American people.”
The former vice president’s comments came the day after he received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage award for his actions on January 6, 2021, the day Trump supporters attacked the Capitol. Pence faced pressure from Trump to use his constitutional role presiding over the counting of electoral college votes to seek to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
Pence argued that pardoning the J6ers “sent the wrong message.”
I was deeply disappointed to see President Trump pardon people that engaged in violence against law enforcement officers that day. The president has every right under the Constitution to grant pardons, but in that moment, I thought it sent the wrong message.
Pence also took issue with President Trump’s sweeping global tariffs — especially concerning China. ““I do have concerns that, with the president’s call for broad-based tariffs against friend and foe alike, that ultimately the administration is advancing policies that are not targeted at countries that have been abusing our trade relationship, but rather are essentially new industrial policy that will result in inflation, that will harm consumers and that will ultimately harm the American economy,” he argued.
However, while serving under the first Trump administration, he avidly supported the president’s tariff policies.
Mike Pence literally spent a year going around the country arguing in favor of Trump's tariff policies.
— MAZE (@mazemoore) April 3, 2025
What a despicable loser this guy turned out to be. https://t.co/TgQLRmJJKw pic.twitter.com/TtcvD2sckU
Pence told Collins he had “many long conversations” with Trump about trade and tariffs. He affirmed he supports “free trade with free nations” and that America “ought to be engaging our trading partners across the free world to lower trade barriers, lower non-tariff barriers and subsidies.”
However, he suggested that the US should “get tough” on authoritarian regimes.”
“I do think this version of tariff policy that’s broad-based, indiscriminate, applies tariffs to friend and foe alike, is not a win for the American people,” he argued.
The former vice president also criticized Trump’s handling of the war between Ukraine and Russia, saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin “doesn’t want peace; he wants Ukraine” and that he “only understands power.”
It’s the reason why in this moment, we need to make it clear that the United States is going to continue to lead the free world, to provide Ukraine with the military support they need to repel the Russian invasion and achieve a just and lasting peace. The wavering support the administration has shown over the last few months, I believe, has only emboldened Russia.
Former Vice President Mike Pence blasts Trump over his handling of the Ukraine/Russia war.
— Jeff Charles, The Nullifier🏴 (@jeffcharlesjr) May 6, 2025
"The wavering supportthe administration has shown over the last few monthsI believe has only emboldened Russia" pic.twitter.com/dMRpvYqtBO
“This is not just about Ukraine for me. I really do believe that if Vladimir Putin overruns Ukraine, it’s just a matter of time before he crosses a border where our men and women in uniform are going to have to go fight him, Pence added.