Pence says there will be ‘BETTER CHOICES’ than Trump in 2024 before ex-president’s expected campaign

Former Vice President Mike Pence said there will be “better choices” than Donald Trump in 2024, but stressed that the final decision was up to the American people during a snippet of his ABC News interview that aired Monday night.

Pence’s conversation with the network aired just a day before Trump was expected to launch a third campaign for the White House.

Allies have openly pleaded with the former president to wait until next year’s congressional makeup is fully decided next month after a poor performance by Republicans in the midterm elections.

Looking ahead to the next race, Pence himself has been put forward as a potential contender for 2024.

He told ABC News it was something that was “considered” in his household.

But he objected when asked about his chances of beating Trump in a head-on primary.

The evangelical former governor of Indiana had been chosen as Trump’s running mate in 2016 in an apparent effort to boost the image of the New York billionaire among conservative Christians in the Midwest.

But their relationship was permanently broken after the January 6 riot at the Capitol last year, when Pence refused to agree to Trump’s plan to reverse his 2020 election loss.

Pence said on Monday’s segment that he flat-out told Trump that they lost the election “many times,” but that the ex-president continued to push his fraud theories.

It is his first interview in which he discusses the riot at the Capitol. In a previously aired clip, the Vice President is attacking Trump for his “reckless” tweet calling Pence a coward, which was followed by rioters chanting “Hang Mike Pence” through the halls of Congress.

When asked if Trump should run for president again after all this, as he appears to be planning, Pence replied, “I think that’s up to the American people.”

“But I think we’ll have better choices going forward,” Pence added. “People in this country actually get along pretty well once you get out of politics. And I think they want their national leaders to radiate that same thing – that same compassion and generosity of spirit.”

“And I think — so in the days to come, I think — I think there’s going to be better choices.”

Pence dropped his own hint from the White House, continuing, “And for me and my family, we’ll think about what our role is in that.”

“We’re considering it in our house,” he said when asked candidly about his plans for 2024. “Prayerful consideration.”

Pence, however, was hesitant to say he would challenge Trump head-on if the ex-president goes through with his anticipated plans.

“That’s for others to say, and it’s for us to decide whether or not we want to test that,” Pence said.

Trump is teasing a “special announcement” that will be made Tuesday night at 9 p.m. ET from his home in Florida’s Mar-a-Lago.

Pence books it with his own programming, in what could turn into an early 2024 political cold war, with his 10 p.m. special on ABC News tonight, the release of his new book tomorrow, and his CNN town hall Wednesday night.

Looking back to Jan. 6 on Monday night, Pence said that neither Trump nor anyone in the White House called that day to check on him.