Vice President Mike Pence didn’t join President Trump for the walk to St. John’s Church “out of an abundance of caution,” he told CBS News Radio in an interview Friday.
He told CBS News correspondent Steven Portnoy that he was “encouraged” not to go, describing the situation as volatile. Presidents and vice presidents are sometimes discouraged from being at the same place at the same time.
“I was actually encouraged to stay at the White House out of an abundance of caution. … I would have been happy to walk shoulder to shoulder with President Trump,” Pence told CBS News Radio in an interview that took place in Pittsburgh.
The president’s decision to walk across the street to the church and hold up a Bible for a photo op after Lafayette Park had just been cleared of protesters soon became controversial. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley on Thursday said his presence in the photo op was a “mistake” that “created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics.”
Milley’s statement took the White House by surprise, as multiple White House sources have told CBS News. But Pence refused to weigh in on Milley’s admission that he had made a “mistake.”
“I have great respect for General Milley. I respect his ability to speak for himself about his presence there,” Pence told CBS News Radio.
“I’ll leave General Milley to his own judgment in that regard,” the vice president added.
As is the case with other top White House officials, Pence declined to say there is systemic racism in the country, though he said racism does exist.
“I acknowledge that there is racism in America, just as there is in every nation on earth … but I truly believe that every American can be proud of the progress we have made,” Pence said.
Pence met with African-American leaders at a church in Pittsburgh Friday, as the administration grapples with addressing racial tension while the president pushes a message of law and order.
