Did Mike Pence endorse Kamala Harris and Tim Walz? No, this video was edited

Once running mates, former Vice President Mike Pence and former President Donald Trump parted ways after the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol. Pence, a lifelong Republican, has said he would not endorse Trump in 2024. 

But one video circulating on social media made it look like Pence went even further. 

“Vote for Kamala Harris as president of the United States, or Tim Walz as her running mate. Period, paragraph,” Pence said, according to a video shared Oct. 13 on Threads and Instagram. 

The clip also showed Pence saying: “Between me and my former running mate, I cannot endorse President Trump’s continuing assertion that I should have set aside my oath to support and defend the Constitution and acted in a way that would have overturned the election in January of 2021.”

(Screenshot from Instagram)

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This video was from Pence’s Aug. 9 appearance at an Atlanta conservative forum dubbed “The Gathering,” and hosted by conservative podcaster and radio talk show personality Erick Erickson. It was edited to cut the beginning of Pence’s statement, which shows the opposite of what the social media posts claim.

“Let me go on the record here at The Gathering,” Pence said in the original interview. “I could never vote for Kamala Harris as President of the United States, or Tim Walz as her running mate.”

Around three minutes later, C-SPAN video of the event shows, Pence made the comments about disagreeing with Trump over his “oath to support and defend the Constitution” — not right after, as the edited video showed.

PolitiFact found no news reports or statements that would support the claim that Pence has endorsed Harris or Walz.

We rate this claim False. ​

By

Loreben Tuquero

Staff writer

October 15, 2024

Truth-o-meter Ruling

False

IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT

• The video was edited in a misleading way. In the original video, Mike Pence said, "I could never vote for Kamala Harris as President of the United States, or Tim Walz as her running mate."

Statement

Video shows former Vice President Mike Pence endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Context

social media posts

Speaker/Target

Speaker: Social Media

Statement Date

October 13, 2024