Former Vice President Mike Pence, a 2024 GOP White House candidate, said Sunday the Department of Justice (DOJ) “has lost the confidence of the American people,” following the news former President Trump could be indicted in an investigation into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
“I do think that the Department of Justice has lost the confidence of the American people,” Pence told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union,” adding he thinks another indictment against Trump would “only contribute to that sense among the American people.”
Trump announced last week he received a target letter informing him he is a subject in the DOJ investigation into his efforts to stay in power after losing the 2020 election.
Pence said on CNN he hopes Trump is not indicted again.
“As I said, I’d rather that these issues and the judgment about his conduct on January 6 be left to the American people in the upcoming primaries,” he said.
Pence also told Bash that he has heard from Americans during his campaign stops who have a “deep concern about unequal treatment of the law.”
The target letter comes after Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel last year to oversee the Justice Department’s probe into “whether any person or entity unlawfully interfered with the transfer of power.”
“If I’m elected president of the United States, we’re not just going to have a new attorney general, we’re going to clean house among all senior leadership at the Justice Department, and we’re going to appoint men and women of integrity who will have the confidence of Americans across the political spectrum for their rule of law,” Pence said Sunday.
Pence previously pushed back on Trump’s suggestions that his former vice president had the ability to overturn the election results.
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“And I’ve said many times that the president’s words were reckless, that I had no right to overturn the election,” Pence said Sunday. “But while his words were reckless, based on what I know, I’m not yet convinced they were criminal.”
While prosecutors have not handed over a formal indictment yet, a target letter often indicates a person could soon face charges. The letter reportedly cites three statutes involving conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to deprive citizens the “free exercise” of constitutional rights like voting.
Trump already faces trials over alleged hush money payments and his handling of classified documents. He is also the center of a probe in Georgia for possible election interference.
