CBS 58 Exclusive: One-on-one with VP Mike Pence
MADISON, Wis. (CBS 58) – Vice President Mike Pence visited Wisconsin for the second time in as many weeks on Tuesday, Jan. 28, voicing his support for school choice programs in the state, an issue that he says appeals to voters in Wisconsin.
“Wisconsin said ‘yes’ to President Trump in 2016,” Pence told CBS 58 in an exclusive, one-on-one interview at the State Capitol. “One of the promises that he made was that our administration would be a champion for school choice for parents across this country.”
The vice president believes the Trump administration’s agenda is having a positive impact on the state and can lead to success in November.
“The president will sign the USMCA,” Pence said. “It’s a huge win for agriculture and manufacturing here in Wisconsin and all across the country.”
President Trump and Vice President Pence won Wisconsin by fewer than 23,000 votes in 2016. Keeping Wisconsin and states like Michigan and Pennsylvania in their win column in the November election will be crucial to staying in the White House.
One potential obstacle in achieving that goal is the ongoing Senate impeachment trial in Washington.
“What’s happening in the Senate today and the impeachment that the democrats passed is really a disgrace for the country,” Pence told CBS 58.
The trial is being rocked this week by reports that former National Security Adviser John Bolton wrote in a to-be released book that President Trump directly tied U.S. aid for Ukraine to an investigation into the Biden family.
When asked if the Senate should bring in Bolton to testify in the trial, Pence replied, “The Senate will make the decisions that they’ll make with regard to the proceedings that are underway.”
Bolton has said that he would testify if called in by the Senate. Democrats need at least four republicans to join them in voting to bring in Bolton for witness testimony.
The Vice President’s office released a statement this week saying that at no point did President Trump ask Pence or his office to bring up the Bidens in 2019 discussions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Pence told CBS 58 Tuesday that he was directed to only discuss corruption in Ukraine.
While democrats press to have Bolton testify, Pence is confident the issue won’t change voters’ minds.
“I think they’ll see this for what it is,” Pence said of the impeachment trial. “It’s a partisan impeachment, underway in the United States senate and we have every confidence that the president will be acquitted.”