Tag: Mike Pence

President Trump has a weird thing about water - and now Mike Pence is copying some of it. » Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc About: MSNBC is the premier destination for in-depth analysis of daily headlines, insightful political commentary and informed…

Chris Matthews asks why Trump “courtiers” like Mike Pence and Rudy Giuliani are so ready to “jump into the mud” for Trump. » Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc About: MSNBC is the premier destination for in-depth analysis of daily headlines, insightful…

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—President Donald J. Trump made Vice-President Mike Pence watch him issue pardons for several hours to see how it is done, a White House source confirmed. According to the source, Trump pardoned a number of disgraced political figures and former reality-show cronies for the sole purpose of training Pence in the art of issuing pardons. After signing pardon after pardon while Pence looked on intently, Trump commanded the Vice-President to sign a “practice pardon” to prove that he “wouldn’t mess anything up,” the source said. Before trying his hand at issuing a pardon, Pence heaped praise on Trump for the pardoning demonstration he had just given. “Mr. President, as in everything you do, your mastery of pardoning has been a wonder to behold,” he said. “I pray to God that, if I am ever called upon to issue a pardon, I do it with one-tenth of the skill and grace you have just displayed.” “Stop sucking up and sign it,” Trump reportedly snapped.

Seth Meyers' monologue from Thursday, May 24. » Subscribe to Late Night: http://bit.ly/LateNightSeth » Get more Late Night with Seth Meyers: http://www.nbc.com/late-night-with-seth-meyers/ » Watch Late Night with Seth Meyers Weeknights 12:35/11:35c on NBC. LATE NIGHT ON SOCIAL Follow Late Night on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LateNightSeth…

(CNN)A North Korean official has lashed out at US Vice President Mike Pence and said Pyongyang is ready for a nuclear showdown if dialogue with the United States fails. Choe Son Hui, a vice-minister in the North Korean Foreign Ministry, said if the US continued on its current path, she would suggest to North Korea's leadership that they reconsider the planned summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Choe took particular issue with Pence's remarks about US National Security Adviser John Bolton, who said the US would look to the negotiations with Libya during the early 2000s when dealing with North Korea. "As the President made clear, this will only end like the Libya model ended if Kim Jong Un doesn't make a deal." When MacCallum said that some people may have seen Bolton's comments as a threat, Pence said "I think it's more of a fact." She noted that Libya's nuclear program was in its early stages when it came to the negotiating table, while North Korea has spent years developing its nuclear weapons. While representing the United States at the Winter Olympics in South Korea earlier this year, he brought along the father of Otto Warmbier, an American university student who was imprisoned in North Korea and died shortly after his return to the United States in a vegetative state. Trump and Kim's summit will be the the first meeting between a sitting US President and North Korean leader, but the North Koreans have expressed displeasure over recent comments by the United States and joint military exercises between Washington and Seoul. But a senior administration official involved in the planning process told CNN that Trump's team wants more high-level talks with Pyongyang before the summit. "Pyongyang is trying to shift the discussion away from immediate disarmament and economic benefits and toward a protracted exchange of security concessions," said Mount of the Federation of American Scientists.

The Democratic liberal figurehead Elizabeth Warren and rising star Cory Booker have a message for left-of-center religious leaders in the era of Donald Trump: keep the faith. The luminaries of the progressive left drew standing ovations – and calls to run for the White House in 2020 – as they laid out a moral case for resisting Trump’s agenda in a pair of speeches in Washington on Tuesday. “Our fight is a righteous fight,” Warren, the senator from Massachusetts, told a rapt gathering from the pulpit of the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal church. The religious right has had a dominating influence on the Republican party’s agenda for decades, while, on the left, the relationship between religious progressives and the Democratic party has been more complicated. Warren has built a reputation as a fierce consumer champion who takes on Wall Street while Booker is known as a national leader on criminal justice reform, both topics that jibe well with the Christian message of mercy and helping the disadvantaged. He tells us that ours is a righteous fight. This is a moral moment in our country,” he said. Stay faithful.” There were moments of levity, too. “It’s been a year or two of really having to stay the course – fighting for equality, for refugees, for immigration, staying with our allies in Europe. It’s been a tough year,” Lawlor said.

In addition to addressing dozens of party events in recent months, Mr. Pence has effectively made himself the frontman for America First Policies, an outside group set up to back Mr. Trump’s agenda. And Mr. Pence has worked insistently to shape Mr. Trump’s endorsements, prodding him in the contests for governor of Florida and speaker of the House, among others. And Mr. Pence has been intimately involved in planning for the 2020 campaign: He joined Mr. Trump for the meeting where the president told Brad Parscale, a digital strategist in the 2016 election, that he would manage the 2020 race. Mr. Pence recently abandoned an attempt to hire Jon Lerner, a Republican pollster close to Mr. Ayers, as a national security aide, after Mr. Trump discovered Mr. Lerner had helped lead attacks on him in the 2016 election. Two senior White House officials said the Lerner episode made Mr. Trump more acutely aware of what these aides described as Mr. Pence’s empire-building. Mr. Ayers again unsettled skeptics in the West Wing this month by poaching a politically savvy aide to Mr. Trump, William Kirkland, to join the Pence team. “The vice president’s political and fund-raising travel advances the president’s agenda by aiding targeted candidates and committees during the midterms, which is what the president asked us to do,” Ms. Farah said. Mr. Pence counseled the president to let congressional Republicans work things out on their own, according to Republicans close to the White House and congressional leaders. Advisers to Mr. DeSantis remain optimistic that Mr. Trump will intervene again in the race, despite internal resistance. “And the president needs that.”

Vice President Mike Pence talked about faith, traditional values, and the Trump administration in his commencement address at Hillsdale College Saturday afternoon. Pence spoke to more than 300 graduates, as well as their friends and family at the small liberal arts school in southern Michigan. “Let’s be honest, no one comes to commencement to hear the speaker,” Pence joked. But the vice president was well received by the audience at the school that is influential in conservative political circles. “You’re beginning your careers at a time of a growing American economy and restored American stature at home and abroad,” Pence told the audience. “On the world stage you’ve seen America embracing our role as leader of the free world. With action just this week on Iran, North Korea,” said Pence. “And on Monday, America will lead the world again when we open our new embassy in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel.” Beyond politics, Pence praised the students for their accomplishments and the lessons learned at Hillsdale College. “It seems at times we live in an age of grim relativism,” Pence told the crowd. This is his fourth trip to Michigan since becoming vice president.

-Written by Elaine Godfrey (@elainejgodfrey) Today in 5 Lines Shortly after greeting three American prisoners just released from North Korea, President Trump announced that he will meet with Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore. The summit will be the first meeting between a sitting U.S. president and North Korean leader. In an interview with NBC News, Vice President Mike Pence said he wants Special Counsel Robert Mueller to end his investigation: “In the interests of the country, I think it’s time to wrap it up,” he said. The Pentagon said that an investigation into the deaths of four American soldiers in Niger last year found a series of problems, but no sole reason for the ambush. After Iran fired an estimated 20 rockets at the Golan Heights, Israeli warplanes struck dozens of Iranian military targets in Syria. Trump and Pence will hold a rally in Elkhart, Indiana, Thursday evening to tout the recent tax cuts and encourage voters to support GOP Senate candidate Mike Braun. Today on The Atlantic A Muslim Among Israeli Settlers: Writer Wajahat Ali traveled to the West Bank to better understand the perspectives of Israeli Jews living in occupied territory. What Has Gotten Michael Cohen in So Much Trouble? : He tried—and failed—to emulate Donald Trump. (Charlie Mahtesian, Politico) Gatekeeper Mike: President Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, was denied a job at the White House.

It has been a big week for Donald Trump who went to Andrews Air Force Base this morning to greet three American Detainees who were being held by Kim Jong Un. There has been a lot of talk about Donald…