CNN recently announced that former Vice President Mike Pence will be participating in a town hall in Iowa, next month. Dana Bash, CNN’s chief Political Correspondent, will moderate the town hall. The event will take place on Grand View University’s campus in Des Moines, Iowa at 9 pm ET on Wednesday, 6th June.
Pence will be answering questions from Bash and a live audience of Iowa Republican voters that have committed to participating in the early state caucuses. This format is similar to the two other presidential town halls that CNN hosted, with Nikki Haley and former president Donald Trump as the frontrunners for the nomination.
Pence has spoken out publicly in the past about his relationship with Trump and events on January 6 in both media interviews and his memoir. His reflections are vague and limited. He described the personal dynamics between him and the former president as “differences on that day.”
Pence said:
The President and I clashed in the days before January 6. I am convinced that I did my duty on that day to ensure that there was a peaceful transition of power, guided by God’s grace and Constitution. However, I felt anger. I was angered by the differences that we had on that day and also by what I saw…
The internet was flooded with videos of Trump’s town hall hosted by CNN. He verbally fought with CNN’s Kaitlan Collin, causing the video clips to go viral. Trump, who was fed up with Collin interrupting him and talking over him, called the moderator a “nasty” person.
I want everyone to stop dying. Russians and Ukrainians are dying. They need to stop dying.
Trump said that he would bring an end to the war within 24 hours of taking office.
Many viewers were also impressed when the former president “pulled the receipts” out of his suit pocket. These were printouts of tweets he had made about the events on January 6. Trump promoted his Truth Social platform while highlighting the peaceful directives he published on his globally popular and previously suspended Twitter account.
Donald Trump BROUGHT THE RECEIPTS!!!
CNN is freaking out because Trump is WIPING THE FLOOR with them!! pic.twitter.com/HUV7Bo14uo
— Graham Allen (@GrahamAllen_1) May 11, 2023
Pence flirted but has not declared a presidential run. The former vice president said earlier this month that he’d make a final decision by June 30.
We’ll probably announce our decision before June ends. This race won’t start until August in Milwaukee if we decide to move forward.
Emerson College Polling conducted a recent poll in Iowa for possible GOP candidates from May 19-22. Pence was among the respondents. Pence tied with Nikki Haley for five percent of votes, behind Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ 20 percent and former President Trump’s 42-point advantage at 62 percent.