Trump knocks Pence after abortion policy criticism

Former President Trump went after former Vice President Mike Pence early Wednesday for criticizing his recent comments on abortion.

“Former Vice President (thank you President Trump!) Mike Pence has been doing a lot of talking about Abortion lately,” Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for the White House, wrote early Wednesday on Truth Social.

“He never felt I would be able to kill Roe v Wade and bring it back to the States where, according to all legal scholars, it belongs,” he continued. “He started at no abortion for any reason, and then allowing abortions for up to 6 weeks, then up to 15 weeks, and then, who knows?”

He added that Pence, who suspended his 2024 presidential bid in October, has taken “bad advice,” from others in the past on the issue.

The former president’s remarks come after Pence responded to Trump’s stance on abortion — revealed Monday — calling it a “slap in the face” to those who oppose abortion access.

“President Trump’s retreat on the Right to Life is a slap in the face to the millions of pro-life Americans who voted for him in 2016 and 2020,” Pence said in a post on the social platform X, referencing his former boss’s argument that the issue should be left to the states.

“By nominating and standing by the confirmation of conservative justices, the Trump-Pence Administration helped send Roe v. Wade to the ash heap of history where it belongs and gave the pro-life movement the opportunity to compassionately support women and unborn children. In the landmark Dobbs decision, the Supreme Court returned the question of abortion to the states and the American people,” he added.

Trump pushed back in his post on Wednesday, arguing that supporting a national ban “doesn’t matter” because of the divided Congress.

“But it doesn’t matter because the Radical Left Democrats will never approve anything on this issue and Republicans don’t have anywhere close to the number of Senators necessary to make it matter,” he wrote.

Trump added that the criticism should be levied toward Democrats, not Republicans, on the issue.

The former president made his stance public in a video post Monday, claiming his view is abortion is now “where everybody wanted it” for a legal standpoint.

“The states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land. In this case, the law of the state,” Trump explained.

“Many states will be different. Many will have a different number of weeks or some will have more conservative than others and that’s what they will be,” he said in the video. “At the end of the day, this is all about the will of the people. You must follow your heart, or in many cases your religion or your faith.”

He also received pushback from hard-line conservatives for his stance.