Mike Pence Publicly Disagrees With Donald Trump: Russia Behind 2016 Elections Hacks According To ‘Evidence’
In a somewhat shocking move, Indiana Governor Mike Pence broke ranks with Donald Trump on the DNC hacks allegedly originating out of Russia.
The GOP vice presidential running mate for the 2016 Elections sat down for a handful of interviews over the weekend, and it became apparent that he is not merely a Trump sounding board.
According to a Newsweek report, Governor Pence sat for a scheduled chat on Fox News Sunday. There, he talked candidly about the state of the presidential race and the waves of Donald Trump controversy.
Pence and Trump agree along several lines of the political race: “Hillary Clinton is a crook;” Obamacare needs to be repealed; the U.S. Armed Forces, specifically the Navy, is the smallest it has ever been since 1916; and the economy is chugging along at an anemic rate. However, there is one facet of the race where they differ: the issue of Russia as it pertains to the recent Democratic Party computer hacking.
Mike Pence says evidence implicates Russia in email hacks tied to the U.S. election, contradicting Donald Trump https://t.co/tT94jmzIUU pic.twitter.com/M0C5HffrPa
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) October 17, 2016
Recently, WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange released a large volume of emails allegedly stolen from the account of Hillary Clinton’s National Campaign Chair, John Podesta. Sources say information contained in the documents put Clinton in a bad light.
Reuters highlighted how one of the emails showed how the former First Lady had a “cozy” relationship with Wall Street bankers. During his run against Clinton in the primaries and caucuses, Senator Bernie Sanders tried to prod Clinton into releasing transcripts of her paid speeches, to no avail.
“In the email released on Saturday containing the transcripts, Clinton campaign staff highlighted sections that could pose problems, including saying ‘political reasons’ factored into passing the 2010 Dodd-Frank law on Wall Street reforms and, while talking about regulation, saying the people who work in the industry know it best.”
Pence weighed in on the latest news about the email hacks.
“I think there’s no question that the evidence continues to point in that direction. There should be severe consequences to Russia or any sovereign nation that is compromising the privacy or the security of the United States of America.”
Later, in another interview with Meet the Press, Mike Pence double downed on his take on Russia and the alleged computer hacking. Pence broke with his potential future boss and said, “There’s more and more evidence that implicates Russia.”
At the previous one-on-one debate with Clinton, Trump suggested that there might not be any hacking into computers as U.S. intelligence officials claim. Instead, he charged that Democrats and the media have “rigged” the election to favor the former Secretary of State.
Trump just openly disagreed with his running mate Mike Pence on the issue of Russia and Syria.
“We have to worry about ISIS.” #debate pic.twitter.com/xuoDr1c0c4
— KCTV5 News (@KCTV5) October 10, 2016
For months, Hillary Clinton, media pundits and members of the DNC and others have criticized Trump for his praise for President Vladimir Putin. In several rallies, interviews, and debates, the real estate tycoon expressed his desire to work with the Kremlin along diplomatic lines if he’s elected President of the United States. Moreover, Trump has compared Putin with Barack Obama, saying the Russian president is a better leader than his American counterpart.
It’s unclear if this latest disagreement between Mike Pence and Donald Trump on Russia’s alleged role in a string of computer hacks signals a campaign meltdown. To Pence’s credit, he has appeared like a loyal partner with Trump despite the eccentric billionaire’s never-ending struggles with his rhetoric and past.
However, according to the Indiana governor, he and Trump will not lodge a fight, in the end, should Clinton prevail on November 8.
“We’ll respect the outcome of this election. Donald Trump said in the first debate that we’ll respect the will of the American people in this election. The peaceful transfer of power is a hallmark of American history.”
[Featured Image by Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images]
