The Shady Side Of Mike Pence

Bewilderment and curiosity dominated media minds when Donald Trump, seeking an Oval Office seat in 2016, selected Indiana Governor Mike Pence as a running mate over higher-profile candidates like Chris Christie and Newt Gingrich. For openers, Pence's circumspection and understated demeanor wildly contrasted with Trump's recklessness and narcissistic need for attention. And while Trump was cavalier about groping women, Pence made sure he wouldn't be caught dead alone with a woman in absence of his wife, a testament to his adherence to evangelical Christianity. That cherubic behavior endeared him to the religious right, and his reluctance to make waves made him ideal as a vice president, once Trump successfully took office.

But Pence's stigma as a White House yes-man evaporated on January 6, 2021, when he ratified the results of the U.S. election, a defiance of the orders of the President who sought to overturn the democratic process. "President Trump asked me to put him over the Constitution," said Pence, per PBS. "But I chose the Constitution, and I always will." Pence's decision triggered an angry Trump-supporting mob to storm the Capitol building in an insurrection not seen since the War of 1812. But despite that noble action and a headstrong dedication to his faith, Pence hasn't always stuck to the letter of the law during his years in politics. From his days in Congress to his governorship stint in Indiana and a term as Vice President, Pence has said things and committed enough deeds for folks to question his moral character.

With news that Mike Pence was hitching up to the Trump campaign wagon, it didn't take long for muckrakers to scrounge for dirt on the supposedly squeaky-clean VP nominee. The Washington Post, in particular, went all the way back to 1990 to reveal that Pence, then a lawyer at 31, left his firm to run for Congress. That year, he took nearly $13,000 in campaign funds for personal use on such items as his mortgage, credit card, golf tournament entry fees, and even his wife's car payments. Nailed by the Federal Election Commission for those expenditures, Pence was unrepentant over his fiscal behavior. "I'm not embarrassed that I need to make a living," Pence said at the time, per the Post. Apparently, leaving his job to run for office meant his family's household income had shrunk by 30%. Back then, grabbing from the campaign cookie jar wasn't illegal, but the actions of Pence and other politicians have since prompted the FEC to toughen rules surrounding political donation expenditures in 1995. 

As well, Pence may have been religious, but he was hardly the "love thy neighbor" type while campaigning. In his ill-fated 1990 Congressional drive, the candidate approved an attack ad that featured an Arab thanking Pence's opponent for approving policies benefiting the Middle Eastern oil industry. That marketing endeavor infuriated ethnic minorities with roots in that region and even contributed to Pence eventually deciding against mudslinging tactics in going after political opponents. 

As an evangelical Christian, Mike Pence has often been criticized by detractors, who claim that he pushes statutes that prioritize faith over freedom. And under scrutiny, few laws involving his approval rocked the political petri dish more than the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which Pence signed into law in 2015 while Governor of Indiana. Defenders of the law said that it allowed people to refuse to perform tasks and deeds on religious grounds, such as catering to same-sex weddings, and that it mirrored a similar federal law passed by President Bill Clinton in 1993. Those opposed, which included Apple CEO Tim Cook and singer Rhianna, claimed the law was discriminatory in that the LGBTQ community would no longer get access to services they previously used. 

"I abhor discrimination," stated Pence in a letter to the Wall Street Journal. "I believe in the Golden Rule that you should 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you.' If I saw a restaurant owner refuse to serve a gay couple, I wouldn't eat there anymore. As governor of Indiana, if I were presented a bill that legalized discrimination against any person or group, I would veto it." His comments weren't enough to stop the boycotts against the state, which an Indiana tourism group claimed had kiboshed 12 conventions and $60 million worth of business. Feeling the pinch months later, the law was amended to state that businesses couldn't use sexual orientation as an excuse to deny financial transactions.

In 2015, back when legacy media was simply called media, Governor Mike Pence came up with the notion of how to compromise private news gatherers by creating his own information system. It was called Just IN, with the last two letters capitalized to indicate his jurisdiction locale, and the service was tasked with distributing ready-made stories for Indiana's media to publish and cast hias administration in a better light. "At times, Just IN will break news — publishing information ahead of any other news outlet," noted one fact sheet, per the Indianapolis Star. "Strategies for determining how and when to give priority to such 'exclusive' coverage remain under discussion." According to the government flack, the project was to have cost taxpayers around $100,000, with funding going towards the wages of two writers.

Almost immediately, Pence received blowback from practitioners dismissing Just IN as a government-controlled house organ competing with mainstream media. One publisher interviewed by the Star called it ludicrous, as a number of national publications were also quick to skewer the idea, with The Atlantic calling it "Pravda on the Plains" and U.S. News and World Report dubbing the service "the Pence News Network." Given the reaction, Pence quickly killed the plan. "However well intentioned, after thorough review of the preliminary planning and careful consideration of the concerns expressed, I am writing you to inform you that I have made a decision to terminate development of the JustIN website immediately," he said, per Time.

Mike Pence has had his problems with ethnic factions, most notably in 2016, when Syrians sought the U.S. as a sanctuary from their country's devastating civil war. Pence was hardly doing cartwheels over the idea of Syrian refugees seeking a better future in Indiana, believing terrorists were among those fleeing the war-torn nation. "The safety and security of the people of Indiana is Gov. Pence's highest priority," said a Pence spokesperson to CNN. "The state of Indiana took decisive action last year to suspend resettlement of Syrian refugees after the terrorist attack in Paris and because the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security acknowledged security gaps with regard to screening refugees from Syria."

Lobbyists, including the American Civil Liberties Union, angrily responded to Pence's desires. "Gov. Pence may not constitutionally or legally discriminate against a particular nationality of refugees that are extensively vetted by the federal government," said one ACLU member to NPR. A federal court agreed, turfing Pence's attempts and quashing the government's appeal. In his ruling, Judge Richard Posner determined that there was no evidence that terrorists were among the Syrian refugees. He added that barring them from Indiana for reasons of safety and not their nationality was akin to denying blacks the right to settle in Indiana not because of their color, but because Pence is fearful of them. "But that of course would be racial discrimination, just as his targeting Syrian refugees is discrimination on the basis of nationality."

If Mike Pence ever wrapped his head around the subjects of homosexuality or LGBTQ issues, most likely topics he dare not approach without disdain, he might discover he had overdosed on misinformation. One of the biggest misconceptions he clings to is that gays and lesbians are not born that way and, unlike race, shouldn't be protected by the Constitution. "I do not choose whether I am a black American," Pence said in the '90s, per CNN. "The great vast majority of the psychological community says homosexuality at a very minimum is a choice by the individual, and at the maximum, is a learned behavior." The Human Rights Campaign outlined a number of situations involving his negative attitude towards gays, such as passage of the Religious Restoration Freedom Act and his inaction on decreasing HIV infections when he was Governor, and blocking hate-crime legislation protecting the LGBTQ community during his Congressional years.

Pence has long denied being an advocate of conversion therapy, a long-discredited psychiatric practice designed to change a patient's sexual orientation. But during his 2000 Congressional campaign, his website addressed the issue, although conversion therapy wasn't mentioned by name. "Resources should be directed toward those institutions that provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior,"  said one passage, per the Indianapolis Star. Ironically, a bill banning conversion therapy for minors was introduced to Indiana legislators in 2021. After a lot of debate, the bill became law in 2023.

Throughout his term, allegations dogged President Donald Trump over his involvement in Russian interference in the 2016 election that he won, with Vice President Mike Pence seen as a peripheral player. Pence's presumed role concerned talks he had with National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, who frequently chatted with former Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. At issue was whether Flynn and Kislyak discussed undermining U.S. sanctions imposed against Russia in response to the interference, a retaliatory action made by President Barack Obama shortly before Trump succeeded him. In January 2017, on the CBS program "Face the Nation," Pence denied the topic ever came up. "They did not discuss anything having to do with the United States' decision to expel diplomats or impose censure against Russia," he said.

Later that year, after Flynn was fired by Trump and charged with lying to FBI agents, Pence said something different to CBS. "What I can tell is I knew that he lied to me," he stated. "And I know the President made the right decision with regard to him." Pence's conversation with Flynn created suspicion that he knew more about the Russian situation than he let on. Others were more adamant. "Pence is just as complicit in this scandal as every other Republican in Washington, and despite his best efforts to fly under the radar, he should expect the country to hold him accountable," said Emily Aden of liberal lobbyists American Bridge to the New York Times.

In 2019, President Donald Trump overextended his political power — an act that eventually had him impeached – when, on July 25, he asked the Ukrainian government to investigate any shady deals involving Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden. And despite his denial, it turned out that Vice President Mike Pence was in on the scandal. One of Pence's aides listened in to the infamous phone call, but it's unclear how much information from the exchange was conveyed to the Vice President. However, it was Pence's duty to tell Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Warsaw on September 1 that $400 in military aid would be withheld unless Ukraine investigated Hunter Biden's activities. 

But at a Warsaw media conference, Pence denied any connection between withholding support and scrounging for evidence on Biden activity in Ukraine. "We discussed America's support for Ukraine and the upcoming decision the President will make on the latest tranche of financial support in great detail," he said. Pence's chief of staff later told the Washington Post, "The president consistently raised concerns about corruption and the lack of burden-sharing by European partners, so having run on an anti-corruption campaign, Zelensky was receptive to those messages." The short answer? Pence took part in the Ukrainian scandal but was oblivious to the malfeasance of his actions. Unimpressed with that Pence spin, New York Magazine scribe Jonathan Chait wrote in an op-ed, "There is no way Pence is quite that stupid."

Mike Pence isn't known for his extravagance, although one junket he took in 2019 left American taxpayers on the hook for roughly $600,000. In September, Pence was in Dublin on government business, but instead of staying in the Irish capital, he took a 180-mile detour to the village of Doonbeg, where he said he had relatives. That sideline venture alone was costly in terms of driving and flying, as Air Force Two, a Boeing 757 carrier, reportedly costs $13,000 an hour when in use. The real kicker was where he stayed: a posh hotel conveniently owned by Trump. Pence's chief of staff argued that the resort was the only place available to house the vice president and his entourage, and that the State Department had green-lighted the change in itinerary.

However, detractors made it known who was the real beneficiary of the deal. "Funneling taxpayer money to @POTUS by staying at this Trump resort is sooooooo corrupt," noted California Congressman Ted Lieu on social media. Pence tried to downplay the controversy. "I understand political attacks by Democrats," he said, per CNN. "If you have a chance to get to Doonbeg you'll find it's a fairly small place." Trump denied having any involvement in Pence staying at his cushy digs. "I don't suggest anything," he said, per NBC News. "I don't suggest it, nor did I with the attorney general. I never spoke to the attorney general about using my hotel."

In 2020, the President often went to arcane lengths to downplay the pandemic, saying at one point, per NPR, "One day — it's like a miracle — it will disappear." Mike Pence wasn't much better at providing critical information to Americans. In April, during the first lockdown to mitigate the number of COVID-19 cases, Pence, as leader of the Presidential task force to tackle the pandemic, predicted to Geraldo Rivera, per Fox News, "by Memorial Day weekend we will have this coronavirus epidemic behind us."

Undaunted that COVID remained, Pence continued to reassure Americans months later. "As we see new cases rising — and we're tracking them very carefully — there may be a tendency among the American people to think that we are back to that place that we were two months ago," he said in June of that year, per CNN, when more than 100,000 American had already died from the virus. "That we're in a time of great losses and great hardship on the American people. The reality is we're in a much better place," he said. Pence added that the entire country was reopening after the lockdown, although at least 30 states reported rising cases. What he also didn't mention was that at least 500 Americans were still dying daily from infection. It was little wonder that during the Vice-Presidential debate later that year, Democrat candidate Kamala Harris declared that the Trump government's pandemic response was "the greatest failure of any presidential administration," per CTV News.

Even after Mike Pence officially left his Vice President post in 2021, he still faced controversy as a private citizen. Fortunately for Pence, he was low on the totem pole as a person of interest when investigations into the January 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill kicked off. But it was something less sensational, yet still critical to national security, that his name popped up in the headlines in 2023. It turned out that like Donald Trump and Joe Biden, Pence had stored classified documents at his Indiana home, a security violation and a federal crime punishable by five years in jail, a $250,000 fine, or both.

In 2022, months after FBI agents raided Trump's Florida home to recover classified files and boxes of politically sensitive information, Pence denied he had any such materials at his residence. "​Well, there'd be no reason to have classified documents, particularly if they were in an unprotected area," Pence said to ABC News. "But I will tell you that I believe there had to be many better ways to resolve that issue than executing a search warrant at the personal residence of a former president of the United States." But after one of Pence's lawyers found a few classified items and alerted the FBI about the situation, Pence was subsequently questioned about the documents. Department of Justice officials determined no criminal wrongdoing involving the materials and closed the investigation, opting against pressing charges against Pence.