Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., defended Hunter Biden’s attendance at a state dinner where Attorney General Merrick Garland was present, the same week he reached a plea agreement over federal charges.

In an appearance on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press,’ the Minnesota Democrat claimed one thing had nothing to do with the other.

‘You know, I think as the president explained, that’s his son. That’s a separate thing,’ Klobuchar said.

Klobuchar, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, made the comments after the president’s son pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax last week. He also agreed to enter into a pretrial diversion agreement regarding a separate charge of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.

Hunter was then spotted at a Thursday White House state dinner held in honor of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Garland, who leads the Justice Department, and Klobuchar were also in attendance. 

‘That decision was made by an independent prosecutor who is a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney who had 10 years of experience,’ Klobuchar said about the case. ‘Well-respected Philadelphia Inquirer reported that he was a registered Republican. He looked at the facts and evidence and made that decision.’

‘And by the way, if that’s what the Republicans want to run on in the coming election, good luck, because the president is going to be able to run on the strength of his work in bringing 13 million jobs back to America,’ Klobuchar continued. 

Host Chuck Todd proceeded to press the senator on ‘the perception issue’ Hunter Biden’s attendance posed, asking if she wished the ‘perception were different.’

‘You always wish there were different perceptions, but that’s not reality. Reality is whether or not someone is going to be able to get their insulin. And the president has made changes,’ Klobuchar responded. ‘Reality is whether someone has a job. Reality is when they can go visit their grandma again in an assisted living. Those are people’s realities. Not who is sitting where at a state dinner.’

So far, Garland has faced a barrage of questions following Hunter Biden’s deal and likely lack of prison time. Top House and Senate Republicans have since lambasted the deal as well as the attorney general. 

‘It’s no coincidence that less than a week after President Trump is arraigned by the DOJ, Hunter Biden is pleading guilty to a sweetheart deal with no jail time,’ Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital in a statement at the time. ‘The DOJ is going for the low-hanging fruit by charging Hunter Biden with a gun felony and two tax misdemeanors, after years of slow walking their investigation.’

‘America has 2 million people incarcerated right now,’ Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., told Fox News Digital. ‘We have six thousand jails. We could have found a place for Hunter. But the truth is, nobody really cares about Hunter Biden. Hunter was a rookie influence peddler and a troubled young man selling access to his dad. He’s a part of the Biden crime family, but he’s not the Big Guy, he wasn’t the VP, and he’s not the inaugurated president.’

Former President Trump also slammed the plea agreement, telling Fox News Digital shortly after the deal was announced that it amounted to ‘a traffic ticket.’ 

‘It is a disgrace to the system, it is a disgrace to America, it is a very unfair situation, it is prosecutorial misconduct, and it is election interference – all wrapped up into one,’ Trump said. 

President Biden has since come out in support of Hunter, telling a reporter, ‘I’m very proud of my son,’ following a discussion on artificial intelligence in San Francisco Tuesday. 

On Friday, Garland denied whistleblower allegations that the Justice Department, FBI and IRS interfered with U.S. Attorney David Weiss’ investigation of Hunter Biden, saying Weiss has ‘complete authority to make all decisions on his own behalf.’

Hunter Biden is scheduled to make his first court appearance in Delaware on July 26. 

Fox News’ Brooke Singman, David Spunt, Timothy H.J. Nerozzi, Jessica Chasmar, Chris Pandolfo, and Brie Stimson contributed to this report. 

Former President Donald Trump continues to lead as the GOP frontrunner after being indicted on federal charges in early June, however, nearly half of GOP voters surveyed are skeptical over whether he should continue to lead the Republican Party, according to a new poll.

A new NBC poll shows a majority of Republican voters would vote for Trump in the Republican primary, with 51% listing him as their number one choice. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis came in second with 22% of the votes and former Vice President Mike Pence coming in third with 7%. 

These new numbers come in comparison to how the candidates fared with GOP voters back in April shortly after Trump was indicted in New York in connection to hush-money payments made in 2016. 46% of Republican voters supported Trump then and 31% said they were backing DeSantis. 

After pleading not guilty to 37 federal charges related to his handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in June, a combined total of 77% of GOP primary voters stated the federal charges gave them either minor concerns (14%) or no real concerns (63%). 64% of Republican voters also said the various indictments and investigations Trump faces are politically motivated. 

These numbers are then compared to 55% of all registered voters who say the charges give them either major concerns (47%) or moderate concerns (8%).

Trump remains the GOP frontrunner, even when poised in a hypothetical match against DeSantis, with 60% of Republican voters backing the former President and DeSantis receiving only 36%. 

However, in a hypothetical Trump-Biden battle, President Joe Biden came out on top with a near majority of the vote (49%). Trump received 45% support. However, a total of 68% of those surveyed stated Biden’s mental and physical health was a major/moderate concern for them. 

On the flip side, when asked if they agree with Trump remaining the party’s leader, nearly half of GOP voters said yes, with 21% saying they believed he was a good president but it was time to consider other leaders. 

Trump appeared at a Miami federal courthouse in early June in connection to the classified documents case, marking the first time a former president has faced federal criminal charges. The charges include willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements.

The former president slammed the federal indictment as ‘sham’ and ‘election interference’ by the Biden administration in a speech at his property Trump National Golf Club Bedminster after appearing in federal court, calling it ‘the most heinous abuse of power in the history of our country.’

Trump also slammed Special Counsel Jack Smith at the time, calling him a ‘deranged lunatic’ as well as blasting President Biden for having ‘his top political opponent arrested and charged.’

Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report. 

The White House received backlash Saturday after it was reported that Hunter Biden was accompanying his father to Camp David amid bombshell whistleblower allegations of political corruption – along with recently pleading guilty to federal tax charges and agreeing to plea deal on a felony gun charge.

The House Ways and Means Committee revealed Thursday its interview with an IRS whistleblower last month who shared a WhatsApp message from 2017 in which Hunter Biden allegedly told a Chinese business associate that he and his father would ensure ‘you will regret not following my direction.’

‘I am sitting here with my father, and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled,’ Hunter Biden told Henry Zhao, the director of Chinese asset management firm Harvest Fund Management, in the message provided by IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley. ‘And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction.’

Conservatives noted on Twitter the close timing of the revelations and the father and son’s travel together to Camp David.

‘This week, federal government whistleblowers allege massive DOJ/FBI corrupt obstruction to protect Hunter and Biden family,’ tweeted Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch. ‘And Biden regime sweetheart plea deal with Hunter is announced. Joe Biden’s response? Bring Hunter to WH for a State Dinner and then off to Camp David for the weekend with him.’

‘COLLUSION: Hunter and Joe Biden retreated to Camp David with their lawyers for the weekend,’ tweeted @amuse, a prominent Substack writer. ‘Will Biden throw his son overboard to save his presidency?’

‘Lots of business to discuss?’ GOP communicator Steve Guest tweeted.

‘Amazing. Taking a tax cheat and gun felon with him on a trip where he will be discussing high level international events,’ Washington Free Beacon reporter Chuck Ross tweeted. ‘But also, does Hunter live with Joe now or something?’

‘Strange to go to Camp David for such a short time,’ New York Post columnist Miranda Devine tweeted. ‘Maybe to have confidential discussions with unknown legal advisers in a heavily guarded place away from prying eyes.’

President Biden has consistently said that he never talks to his son about foreign business deals, despite piling evidence that he has met more than a dozen of Hunter Biden’s business associates.

The whistleblower testimony was revealed two days after Hunter Biden entered an agreement with his father’s Justice Department to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of failing to pay federal income taxes on at least $3 million he earned through foreign business deals. He also agreed to enter into a pretrial diversion agreement with regard to a separate charge of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.

‘True to form, Biden leaves the White House for his weekend at Camp David, despite unrest in Russia,’ journalist Charlie Spiering tweeted. ‘Hunter Biden also spotted boarding with him on Marine One.’

In addition to accompanying his father to Camp David, he was also listed as a guest at the White House state dinner Thursday night for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his wife. Footage showed Hunter Biden rubbing elbows with prominent guests.

When White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was pressed Friday about Hunter being a guest, she said, ‘I’m just not going to get into family discussion, personal family discussion.’

‘As you know, Hunter’s his son,’ she added. ‘I’m just not going to get into that.’

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan said the truce brokered between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Wagner Group is ‘evidence’ of Putin’s ‘weakness.’

Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin agreed to a deal this weekend to go into exile in Belarus after he staged an apparent insurrection in which he directed an armed convoy toward Moscow. The Russian mercenary organization had been fighting for the Kremlin in the country’s ongoing war in Ukraine, but he marched toward Moscow over the weekend to demand the removal of Russian commanders, who Prigozhin says have mishandled the war.

CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan questioned Sullivan on ‘Face the Nation’ Sunday about how Belarus appears to be a power broker in the deal, considering the country is considered ‘a vassal state of Russia.’

‘Like why would Yevgeny Prigozhin move to Belarus? Why are they suddenly appearing to be power brokers?’ Brennan asked. 

‘[Belarus President Aleksandr] Lukashenko is in power now as president because of Vladimir Putin,’ Sullivan said. ‘Vladimir Putin came to his rescue in August 2020. It was Lukashenko who was dependent on Putin. But now think about this. This is, as you know, Belarus is part of a union state with Russia, they are conjoined.’

‘How dependent now is Putin on Lukashenko … it’s evidence of the weakness that this reveals what’s happened in the last three or four days, the weakness of Vladimir Putin. It’s not just an appearance of weakness, it’s actual weakness,’ Sullivan said.

‘A person that he has said is a traitor who has stabbed him and his nation in the back … he struck a deal with?’ Sullivan continued. ‘A deal that he needed to strike to avoid bloodshed and chaos. What strong leader does that?’

Prigozhin founded the mercenary group in 2014 and had been considered a close confidant of Putin in recent years. Sullivan called the Wagner Group a ‘corrupt organization’ during his CBS News appearance and cited Prigozhin’s time in prison for robbery, fraud and related charges.

‘Prigozhin himself spent most of the 1980s in prison because he’s a career criminal,’ Sullivan said.

‘Wagner operates in states in Africa and elsewhere, not because there are patriots who were executing policy on behalf of the Russian government, they’re there to get access to … gold mines, oil resources and so forth,’ he added.

‘This is a money-making organization, corrupt organization that the United States correctly treats as a transnational criminal organization.’

All in, the Wagner rebellion lasted less than 36 hours, and Prigozhin is reportedly headed to Belarus to live in exile.

–>

Former Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was in attack mode Sunday morning in response to former President Trump’s recent comments, calling him a ‘three time loser’ who made ‘absurd’ claims on his indictment. 

‘He is a three time loser. We do not need our party to go to a fourth loss,’ Christie said in an appearance on ABC’s ‘This Week.’

Christie, who is running for president in the Republican primary, took issue with Trump’s speech at the Faith and Freedom Coalition gala Saturday night in Washington, D.C., where he told attendees, ‘I’m being indicted for you.’

‘I listened to Donald Trump’s speech last night, and he had the audacity to say that he got indicted for us. I don’t know how it benefited the American people for him to take highly sensitive intelligence and secret documents out of the White House, to stonewall the government on returning them for over a year and half, to subject himself to a raid by the FBI even though they had asked to voluntarily return this stuff, and to then be subject to an indictment, which is obviously going to be one of great trouble for the country because no one wants to see this happen,’ Christie said on ABC.

Trump is being indicted on 37 federal charges in relation to his alleged refusal to hand over classified documents. 

‘Donald Trump says that’s for us? It’s absurd. The same way he has absurdly claimed in the past week that he won the 2020 election,’ Christie continued. 

Christie, who endorsed Trump in 2016, spoke at the Faith and Freedom Coalition event on Friday, where his criticism of Trump was received with a flurry of boos from attendees. 

‘He’s unwilling to take responsibility for any of the mistakes that were made,’ Christie said in his speech. ‘Any of the faults that he has. And any of the things that he’s done. And that is not leadership, everybody, that is a failure of leadership.’

The former New Jersey governor said Sunday that he ‘expected the boos’ and that Trump supporters ‘need to hear the truth.’

‘People understand that folks need to take responsibility for what they do,’ Christie said on ABC. ‘They need to hear the truth too: that character is the single most important element for the president of the United States.’

Former Vice President Mike Pence celebrated the one-year anniversary of the fall of Roe v. Wade on Sunday, and vowed to push a national 15-week abortion ban if he is elected president.

Pence made the comments during an appearance on ‘Fox News Sunday,’ one day after the anniversary of last year’s landmark Supreme Court decision that allowed states to regulate abortion.

‘I’m pro-life and I don’t apologize for it, and this weekend we’re celebrating a historic victory, when one year ago the Supreme Court of the United States sent Roe v. Wade to the ash heap of history,’ Pence said. ‘I couldn’t be more proud of the some 20 states that advanced protections for the unborn and support for women facing crisis pregnancy.’

Host Shannon Bream confronted Pence with polling showing that a large majority of Americans are opposed to a blanket national ban on abortion. Pence called on every candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination to commit to pushing a ‘minimum standard’ of a 15-week abortion ban if they are elected.

‘That would align American law with most of the countries in Europe that literally ban abortion after 12 to 15 weeks,’ Pence said. ‘Our laws at the national level today are more aligned with North Korea, China and Iran than with other Western countries in Europe.’

‘A decisive majority of Americans would support legislation that bans abortion after unborn children are capable of pain at the 15-week mark,’ he continued. ‘We cannot rest or relent until we restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law.’

Pence was among many politicians on both sides of the aisle to mark the anniversary of Roe v. Wade’s fall this weekend. Former President Donald Trump spoke at the Faith & Freedom Coalition Gala in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, and claimed to be ‘the most pro-life president’ in U.S. history.

‘From my first day in office, I took historic action to protect the unborn, very historic. Nobody else did anything near what we did,’ he said. 

Vice President Kamala Harris also posted a video this weekend in which she marked the one-year anniversary of the end of Roe v. Wade, claiming it was a tragedy for women’s rights.

‘One year ago, the United States Supreme Court took a constitutional right from the people of America,’ she wrote. ‘Today, we stand with the majority of Americans who believe the right to choose is fundamental.’

Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted Sunday that Wagner chief Yevgeniy Prigozhin’s halted march against Moscow remained an internal ‘Russian matter,’ though adding the challenge could benefit Ukraine’s counteroffensive as Moscow focuses on defending itself ‘against mercenaries of Putin’s own making.’ 

Blinken, in appearances on CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ and NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ Sunday, reacted to Prigozhin and his mercenaries reportedly coming within 120 miles of Moscow to challenge the Russian defense establishment over the weekend before an agreement brokered by Belarus was reached.

‘Think about it this way. Sixteen months ago, Russian forces were on the doorstep of Kyiv, Ukraine, thinking they were going to take the city in a matter of days, erase the country from the map,’ Blinken told CNN’s Dana Bash. ‘Now, they had to be focused on defending Moscow, Russia’s capital, against mercenaries of Putin’s own making. So this raises lots of profound questions that will be answered, I think, in the days and weeks ahead.’ 

‘We’ve seen this aggression against Ukraine become a strategic failure across the board. Russia is weaker economically, militarily. It’s standing around the world has plummeted,’ he continued. ‘It’s managed to get Europeans off of Russian energy. It’s managed to unite and strengthen NATO with new members and a stronger alliance. It’s managed to alienate from Russia and unite together Ukraine in ways that it’s never been before. This is just an added chapter to a very, very bad book that Putin has written for Russia. But what’s so striking about it is it’s internal. The fact that you have from within someone directly questioning Putin’s authority, directly questioning the premises that upon which he launched this aggression against Ukraine. That in and of itself is something very, very powerful.’ 

‘These are early days for the counteroffensive. It’s going to play out over weeks, maybe even over months,’ Blinken said. ‘And to the extent that Russia is now distracted, that Putin has to worry about what’s going on inside of Russia, as much as he has to worry about what he’s trying to do, not successfully in Ukraine. I think that creates an additional advantage for the Ukrainians to take advantage of. But regardless, they are pressing forward. They have a clear plan. They’re pursuing it.’ 

Bash noted how last year, at the onset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Biden commented, ‘for God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,’ regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin. The CNN host asked Blinken Sunday if that was still the ‘American position’ after Prigozhin’s actions. 

‘These are decisions for the Russian people. And this entire chapter is an internal matter,’ Blinken responded. ‘It obviously has profound repercussions outside of Russia, including potentially in Ukraine. But fundamentally, this is a Russian matter. It’s not our business. It’s not our purpose to choose Russia’s leaders. That’s up to the Russian people. And we have no beef with the Russian people. On the contrary, what is one of the many, many tragedies of what Putin has done in Ukraine is what it’s done to the Russian people.’  

The secretary expressed a similar sentiment to NBC’s Chuck Todd, noting Prigozhin’s ‘direct challenge to Putin’s authority.’ 

Todd claimed that Putin has notably ‘not blamed the West’ after the Wagner mercenaries marched toward Moscow. 

‘So, I think we’ve seen more cracks emerge in the Russian façade,’ Blinken said. ‘It is too soon to tell exactly where they go and when they get there. But certainly, we have all sorts of new questions that Putin is going to have to address in the weeks and months ahead.’ 

Blinken insisted there’s been ‘no change’ witnessed in Russia’s posture regarding its nuclear arsenal and the U.S. has made no change of its own in response to Prigozhin’s march. 

The secretary also said it ‘remains to be seen’ whether top members of Russia’s military have been replaced to appease Prigozhin, as Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, suggested could occur. 

Biden, Blinken noted, on Saturday brought together the National Security Council and allies and partners to closely coordinate on supporting Ukraine’s counteroffensive. 

‘This is a challenge coming from within to Putin, and that’s where his focus has been,’ Blinken told NBC. ‘Our focus is resolutely and relentlessly on Ukraine, making sure that it had what it needs to defend itself and to take back territory that Russia has seized.’ 

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday linked new revelations about Hunter Biden’s business dealings to what he described as President Biden’s inaction over China’s efforts to build a spy base in Cuba.

Trump spoke at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority gala in Washington D.C. and reacted to recent claims by an IRS whistleblower that the agency obtained a WhatsApp message in 2017 from Hunter Biden to Henry Zhao, CEO of Harvest Fund Management, in which Hunter alleged he was with his father and named him to put pressure on Zhao to fulfill a commitment.

‘I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight’ Biden wrote. 

‘And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction.’

‘I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father,’ Biden allegedly said.

It was also revealed that an account linked to Hunter Biden received more than $5 million just days later.

Trump took a swipe at Biden’s son Saturday after recalling the text messages: ‘I didn’t know he was that tough!’

He then tied the revelations to what he said was a lack of action by Biden over reports that the Chinese regime is moving to build a spy base in Cuba.

‘Within ten days, the Bidens got $5.1 million from China for absolutely no reason. They got $5.1 million. In fact, they’ve taken tens of millions of dollars from China. And that’s probably why, maybe he’s not complaining about the fact that they’re building military bases in Cuba. Maybe that’s the reason,’ he claimed.

Trump later went on to describe Biden as a ‘compromised president’ and suggested that Biden’s policies were being influenced by past business dealings.

‘This is truly 100 times bigger than Watergate. This is a much bigger story than Watergate. That’s why Biden doesn’t mind that China has opened up these military installations,’ he said. ‘He’s basically said, it’s okay. He’s not doing anything, even saying anything. He’s not talking about it.’

The Biden administration has downplayed the report that China and Cuba have reached a secret agreement for an eavesdropping facility to allow the Chinese to scoop up electronic communications, saying it is an ongoing issue that predates the administration.

‘This is an ongoing issue, and not a new development, and the arrangement as characterized in the reporting does not comport with our understanding,’ an administration official said.

The official said that the administration had been briefed on a ‘number of sensitive PRC efforts around the world to expand its overseas logistics, basing, and collection infrastructure globally to allow the PLA to project and sustain military power at greater distance’ in January 2021.

China is said to have considered a number of sites spanning the Atlantic Ocean, Latin America, the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa, and the Indo-Pacific. 

‘This effort included the presence of PRC intelligence collection facilities in Cuba,’ the official said. ‘In fact, the PRC conducted an upgrade of its intelligence collection facilities in Cuba in 2019. This is well-documented in the intelligence record.’

Separately, Hunter Biden’s attorney attacked the IRS whistleblower revelations in a statement.

‘Biased and politically-motivated, selective leaks have plagued this matter for years. They are not only irresponsible, they are illegal. A close examination of the document released publicly yesterday by a very biased individual raises serious questions over whether it is what he claims it to be. It is dangerously misleading to make any conclusions or inferences based on this document,’ Clark said. ‘The DOJ investigation covered a period which was a time of turmoil and addiction for my client.’ 

His lawyer also said that ‘[a]ny verifiable words or actions of my client in the midst of a horrible addiction are solely his own and have no connection to anyone in his family.’

Biden this week got into hot water with China when he referred to President Xi Jinping as a ‘dictator’ when arguing that the leader was upset when a Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down over the U.S. earlier this year. 

‘The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two box cars full of spy equipment in it was he didn’t know it was there,’ the president said. ‘That’s a great embarrassment for dictators when they didn’t know what happened.’

Trump, in his speech on Saturday, said he would ‘drop the hammer’ on China if they refused to scrap the proposed base.

‘There will be tariffs unlike anything that China’s ever seen before,’ he said.

Former Vice President and 2024 Presidential candidate Mike Pence spoke on Saturday to commemorate the first anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v Wade, reinforcing his committing to protect the unborn and proclaim that to be truly pro-life in America ‘you must be pro-adoption.’

‘As we celebrate this great new anniversary, let us here resolve that we will work, and we will pray as never before to advance the cause of life and the laws of the land in every state in America. That we will support women in crisis pregnancies with resources and support for their care, for the unborn, and for the newborn as never before,’ Pence said, speaking on Saturday, June 24 at the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

‘That we will advance the cause of adoption in America, for to be pro-life you must be pro-adoption,’ he continued. ‘And we will work every day to elect leaders at every level who will stand without apology for the sanctity of human life.’

‘That we will advance the cause of adoption in America, for to be pro-life you must be pro-adoption.’

— Mike Pence

Pence also commended pro-life activists for their work ‘to bring about a historic day one year ago today,’ noting that it took ’50 years of innocent life loss, and broken hearts’ to bring about the Dobbs v Jackson ruling.

‘It is amazing to think that we are here in this historic place, after 50 years of innocent life loss, and broken hearts. After 50 years of prayer and advocacy and a march on a dark anniversary every January,’ Pence said. ‘One year ago today, because of your work, and because of your prayers, the Supreme Court of the United States reversed Roe v. Wade and gave them a new beginning for life.’

‘I came today to say thank you,’ Pence said. ‘Those looking on around the country, those that have labored in years past-for all you’ve done, to bring about a historic day one year ago today. We commend all the leaders for life, gathered here.’

The 2024 presidential hopeful also affirmed his commitment against abortion.

‘We stand for babies, for their unalienable right to life,’ Pence said. ‘We stand for the right of every mother and father to experience the inexpressible joy of looking into the eyes of their own. We stand for families who long to open their hearts to adoption. 

‘We stand for babies, for their unalienable right to life.’

— Mike Pence

‘Men and women of the pro-life movement, let us never relent in the cause of life,’ Pence continued.

‘We will elect leaders it every level who will stand without apology for the sanctity of human life. The cause of life is the calling of our time,’ Pence said. ‘We can never bring back those 62 million lives whose voices were never heard in this world.’

Pence’s fellow Republican presidential candidates Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) have all supported a nationwide abortion ban after 20 weeks, with some exceptions, including the life of the mother, rape, and incest. 

Previously, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signed a six-week, heartbeat bill, abortion ban in his state.