Former Vice President Mike Pence during the 60th presidential inauguration in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The former vice president said he and those who work for him received "a lot of quiet encouragement" in opposing Kennedy. Pence described finding it necessary to speak out on finding the "nomination of an abortion rights supporter to be secretary of HHS to be a dramatic departure from 50 years of strong pro-life leadership at HHS under Republican administrations."
Asked why Republicans might be reluctant to oppose Trump publicly, Pence said, "I never speculate on motives. You know, I’m not new to town. I’ve waged lonely battles before."
"But you know, you have to be willing to step out and lead," the former vice president said. "My hope is that when the next issue of life comes up, that people will have been encouraged, emboldened to know that they’re not alone."
Regarding RFK Jr.'s nomination, Advancing American Freedom President Tim Chapman told Fox News Digital that the group believed "it would be an abdication of duty and responsibility if nobody said anything about the life issue in particular, let alone some of the other concerns."
"I think it's more likely now that he's better on life than if we had not engaged in the issue at all," Chapman said. "Part of being constructive is weighing in and sending a market signal when the administration or Republican leadership might try to go in a direction that's not tethered to conservative principles. And so you're not always going to win all those fights. And in fact, we don't even view it as our job to win all those fights. We view it as our job to start the conversation."
In the second Trump term, Chapman argued, "there is a far stronger echo chamber on the outside that is currently encouraging and sometimes, you know, doing more than encouraging Republicans and outside groups to stay in line with the administration." He said it's "creating an atmosphere where some people who may disagree with a nominee or with a policy decision are choosing to bide their time and not make that disagreement public."
"Time will tell whether that environment remains permanent and time will also tell whether that echo chamber serves the president well or ends up not serving him well. For various reasons, we don't feel the pressure from that echo chamber to stay silent if we disagree," Chapman told Fox News Digital. "We'll do our best to constructively, you know, make our points. And when we disagree, try to pull the administration towards our view on policy. But then, you know, when we agree, be totally there running beside them and trying to help them push their priorities over the finish line."
Advancing American Freedom is now lobbying against Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Trump's pick for labor secretary, accusing her of being pro-union. While Pence's group plans to spend the coming months pushing to increase military spending, shrink the deficit, and make permanent the Trump 2017 tax cuts, as well as trying to convince Trump to stop implementing tariffs on allies, the former vice president and those who work for him insist they won't take on the "Never Trump" mantle.
Pence has been delivering speeches urging Trump to stand with long-standing foreign allies and lobbying members of Congress, while his aides write letters and opinion columns. Advancing American Freedom says they intend to praise the administration when they agree with it, while raising concerns when they don't, advocating for longtime conservative principles that they believe have taken a back seat to Trump's "Make America Great Again" brand of populism.
"We’re calling balls and strikes here," Pence told the AP. "I think that the way we want to approach this is with integrity to principle. And I’m very encouraged. I think the Trump administration is off to a great start... I’m very pleased about the president undoing Biden’s border policies and putting back into place the policies that we had negotiated and established that secured the border."
Pence said he believes "some of the prominent voices in the party have embraced a more populist thinking" but that "the overwhelming majority of people that ever vote Republican think any differently than they thought during our administration when we hewed to a conservative agenda or the years before or since." To support his opinion, the former vice president recalled an interaction he had with a farmer at a campaign stop in Iowa in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel.
Al Gore, Mike Pence and Karen Pence sit behind Bill and Hillary Clinton, George W. and Laura Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald and Melania Trump at the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
"You know, the people that know me know it’s not personal," Pence told the AP. "I’ve long since forgiven the president for any differences that we had at the end of our administration. We still have those differences as the president still holds the view that, to my knowledge, that I had some authority that I did not have under the Constitution or laws of the country. But from my heart, I've prayed often for the president."
The AP also asked Pence about the viral moment at the funeral in which his wife, former second lady Karen Pence, refused to acknowledge President-elect Trump or shake Melania Trump’s hand.
"My wife loves her husband. And I love my wife and I have great respect for her. And so – but I’ve been really moved at how many people around the country have thanked us both for that day," Pence said. "But again, you know, I want to emphasize, we’re eyes forward here. You know, I’d always thought the president was going to come around on the position he took on Jan. 6."
In his book, Pence said, he describes how he and Trump "actually parted on very amicable terms, very good terms," but in the spring, when Trump "returned to the rhetoric about how I could have done something that neither the Constitution nor the law would ever permit any vice president to do, then I just decided it was important to go our separate ways."
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"But hope springs eternal," Pence said. "And we want to be a constructive force for the conservative agenda. I think that’s good for the administration. It’s good for the Congress. More importantly, it’s good for America."
Chapman reiterated to Fox News Digital that Pence's work during Trump's second term was not personal in nature, pointing to Pence back when he served in Congress "was often a lone voice, you know, agitating against Republican leadership for a course correction to a more conservative vision for governing."
"What you're seeing him do now is almost a return to form," Chapman said. "So I definitely think there's nothing personal there."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Danielle Wallace is a breaking news and politics reporter at Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to danielle.wallace@fox.com and on X: @danimwallace.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pence-positions-himself-leading-republican-voice-willing-challenge-trump-its-not-personal