Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a parent’s rights rally on Feb. 15, 2023, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Charlie Neibergall | AP
Former Vice President Mike Pence, a possible 2024 Republican presidential candidate, denounced his own party’s “apologists” for Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday while delivering a full-throated call for the U.S. to ramp up its support for Ukraine.
Pence, who served in the White House for four years under former President Donald Trump, did not call out any of his fellow Republicans by name. But he suggested that his criticism targeted GOP leaders.
“While some in my party have taken a somewhat different view, let me be clear: There can be no room in the leadership of the Republican Party for apologists for Putin,” Pence said. “There can only be room for champions of freedom.”
“If we surrender to the siren song of those in this country who argue that America has no interest in freedom’s cause, history teaches we may soon send our own into harm’s way,” Pence said later in the speech.
He also took a shot at President Joe Biden‘s administration for being too hesitant to provide Ukraine with the supplies it needs to keep up the fight.
“History teaches that he who hesitates is lost,” Pence said.
The former vice president’s barbs came in a speech marking the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the largest and bloodiest military conflict in Europe since World War II.
Pence, speaking at the University of Texas at Austin’s Clements Center for National Security, urged the U.S. and its allies to work “with increased speed” to inflict economic pain on Putin and his allies “until he relents” and pulls out of Ukraine.
He also called for America to “accelerate the pace of military provisions” to Kyiv, and continue providing ample humanitarian assistance to the millions of people who have been caught up in the brutal conflict.
The Biden administration did take additional steps to bolster Ukraine on Friday, sending another $2 billion in military aid, sanctioning more than 200 additional people and entities and increasing tariffs on key Russian products.
Pence did not explicitly name Trump in the speech, except to note that Russia had not attempted any similar international aggression during the Trump-Pence administration. But on the subject of Putin and Ukraine, Pence’s remarks nevertheless offered a clear contrast in tone between him and his former boss.
Trump, asked in an interview earlier Friday about sending money and arms to Ukraine, warned that “we’re going to end up in World War III,” and asserted that the conflict “would never have happened” if he was still president. Trump also boasted that he was “tougher on Russia than anybody else” but added, “I still got along with Putin.”
Pence has openly said he’s considering a run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, potentially pitting him directly against Trump. The former president castigated Pence on Jan. 6, 2021, when the then-vice president refused to participate in a scheme to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss to Biden. A violent mob of Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, sending the then-vice president and congressional lawmakers into hiding.
Pence has said Trump was “wrong” to believe he could have reversed the election outcome by rejecting key Electoral College votes for Biden. In a CNBC interview on Wednesday, Pence said he believes there will be “better choices” than Trump in 2024.
But as he considers seeking the nomination of a party that still broadly supports Trump, Pence has been quick to tout the Trump-Pence administration’s accomplishments, and he has not explicitly ruled out supporting Trump if he became the GOP nominee.