Mike Pence says he’s ‘deeply disappointed’ over Kevin McCarthy’s ouster

Former Vice President Mike Pence slammed House Republicans who led the ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) during an event at Georgetown University on Tuesday.

“Let me say that chaos is never America’s friend. And it’s never a friend of American families that are struggling,” Pence said as the news broke. “And I’m deeply disappointed that a handful of Republicans would partner with all the Democrats in the House of Representatives to oust the speaker of the House. But I expect before the week is out, there’ll be more votes on who will be elected speaker of the House.”

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“And I expect that most of the Republicans in the Congress will vote again for Kevin McCarthy, the way they voted 15 times over earlier in the year,” he added. “What troubles me about this is that none of this and maybe the days and weeks that this will now capture the Congress of the United States is doing anything to solve the challenges that American families are facing in this economy.”

McCarthy’s ouster comes after Congress narrowly avoided a government shutdown after passing a stopgap measure on Saturday. In the aftermath of the battle to fund the government Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) filed a motion to vacate the position held by McCarthy on Monday night, incensed by an alleged “backdoor deal” McCarthy made with Democrats to avert a shutdown. House Republicans voted 216-210 to strip McCarthy of the speakership on Tuesday, an unprecedented moment in U.S. history. A speaker of the House has never been removed through a motion to vacate until now.

As the vote to remove McCarthy was ongoing and not yet final, Pence sought to differentiate the GOP from the band of Republicans who led McCarthy’s ouster. “I don’t know if what’s happening on Capitol Hill today suggests a great deal of division in the Republican Party,” Pence said when asked about the vote.

“I mean, I think what you’re witnessing is a handful of Republicans partnering with Democrats in Congress to create chaos, and oust a sitting speaker of the House … I must tell you this is one of the days that I don’t miss being in Congress,” he added. “Truth is the chaos that we’re seeing on Capitol Hill today is just one more reason why the American people want to see new leadership.”

Pence also slammed the recently passed continuing resolution that averted a government shutdown. “I think continuing resolutions represent a failure of the Congress to do its job,” Pence said. “But I’m going to continue to be a strong voice for American support for weapons for Ukraine.”

Part of the battle to fund the government included House GOP opposition to financial aid for Ukraine, a stance Senate Republicans are not in support of. However, the final continuing resolution signed into law did not include money for Ukraine.

Unlike House Republicans and some of his 2024 rivals, Pence has been unequivocal in support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.

“As Russia continues to prosecute its unprovoked and unconscionable invasion of Ukraine and as a leader of the free world, I believe it’s incumbent on the United States of America to continue to provide the support for the Ukrainian military, so that they can defeat and repel that Russian invasion and reclaim their sovereignty,” Pence said.

The former vice president also claimed that the war between Ukraine and Russia is a fight against authoritarianism and a fight to save global democracy. “I really do believe that if Russia overruns Ukraine that’ll give a green light, that will give a green light to China to move against Taiwan,” Pence said. “And quite frankly, if we don’t check the efforts by authoritarian regimes to redraw international lines by force, the rest of the 21st century could look a lot like the first half of the 20th century.”

A majority of Americans support U.S. aid to Ukraine according to recent polling. A CBS News/YouGov survey released last month showed 67% of Americans back the nation sending aid and supplies to the war-torn nation while 50% of Republicans are against sending aid, a 7% increase from a February survey when 43% of Republicans were against sending aid.

Pence sought to put the blame for GOP opposition to Ukraine aid on the shoulders of President Joe Biden, whom he repeatedly slammed during his comment. “What I think is undermining the traditional support among Republicans for arms for Ukraine is the fact that I think President Biden has done a terrible job explaining what our interest is there,” he said. “His gauzy speeches about democracy just don’t connect with the American public. And frankly, also I think that that disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan undermined public confidence in the president’s leadership as commander in chief.”

Yet, the former vice president also repeatedly pushed back against the growing isolationism in the U.S. “I really want to put to the lie this notion that we’ve got to choose between solving problems here at home and leading and engaging in the world,” Pence said. “America could do both. We have done both, and we will do both again. We can get our economy moving, we can secure our border. We can be a leader in energy in the world again. We can protect our liberties and strengthen our nation and engage the wider world where the needs arise.”

The former vice president has criticized 2024 rival Vivek Ramaswamy over his stance against U.S. aid to Ukraine and his business dealings with China. “Let me say, I’m glad Vivek pulled out of his business deal in 2018 in China,” Pence said during last week’s second GOP debate in Simi Valley, California. “That must’ve been around the time you decided to start voting in presidential elections.”

During the Georgetown event, Pence referenced Ramaswamy again for his past comments on Taiwan and China, along with his use of TikTok. “I know one of my competitors in the Republican primaries said that we would make a commitment to defend Taiwan until 2028 when we got our microchip industry back and then we’d go back to ambiguity,” he said. “Doesn’t seem very ambiguous to me, that seems like a flashing green light for China to move on Taiwan.”

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“He’s a good man. He’s a good family man, he’s just wrong about a lot,” he continued to laughter. “And he’s wrong about TikTok. Of course, he wasn’t always wrong. About six months ago Vivek Ramaswamy actually said TikTok was, quote, digital fentanyl for America’s youth. And then a couple of weeks ago, he had dinner with a TikTok executive and signed up for TikTok. I just believe in telling people the truth, whether it’s comfortable or not.”

The event with Pence is a collaboration between the Associated Press and Georgetown’s Institute of Politics and Public Service. This is the first in Georgetown’s national security and foreign policy series with Republican presidential candidates.