President Donald Trump has come under fire for criticizing the Department of Justice for its focus on his campaign and Russia, but Vice President Mike Pence said in an interview airing Monday that he believes most Americans understand his comments.
"He tweets his mind, and I think the president said as he was leaving for this trip to the Asia-Pacific [region], that he thinks he would like the DOJ to do their job," Pence told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo.
"I believe the American people understand that and respect that."
As for whether Pence believes the DOJ is doing its job, he replied that Trump had "expressed that he would like to see them do their job in a broad range of areas, and I leave it at that. I think he expressed himself very clearly."
The vice president also discussed whether he believes he or Trump has changed in the past 10 months since the inauguration, and he replied that the experience has been "incredible" for him and his family.
"I think the great thing, one year in, is that there has been so much change for the good in America," said Pence. "President Trump hasn't changed at all . . . the great thing about President Donald Trump is he hasn't changed.
"He continues to speak separate from the heart, straight from his mind, continues to drive forward and keep promises made to American people. It is the greatest honor in my life to be some small part of that."
Pence also discussed the president's call to end the diversity visa lottery after last week's terrorist attack in New York City.
"We need ultimately to move to a merit-based system. In this country, we ought to be asking the question of what are the needs of our communities, our economy, and immigration program, but ending this lottery program is important to President Trump and he is calling on Congress to take action, take action this year to bring an end to that program," said Pence.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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