Pence Can’t Identify Single Error In New WaPo Report On Trump Foundation

Gov. Mike Pence, R-Ind., speaks during a campaign event to announce Pence as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's vice presidential running mate on, Saturday, July 16, 2016, in New York. Pence, standing a... Gov. Mike Pence, R-Ind., speaks during a campaign event to announce Pence as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's vice presidential running mate on, Saturday, July 16, 2016, in New York. Pence, standing alone in front of American flags, hewed closely to the populist themes that Trump has voiced on the campaign trail, describing himself as "really just a small-town boy." He praised Trump effusively as "a good man," a fighter, a legendary businessman and a patriotic American. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Pressed to identify a specific “factual error” in a new Washington Post report on the Trump Foundation that the Trump campaign has claimed was “peppered with inaccuracies,” Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) came up short.

MSNBC’s Brian Williams on Tuesday asked Donald Trump’s running mate about the Post’s story, which alleged that the real estate mogul used $258,000 from his charity to settle personal legal issues.

“Well, I think what we found is that there is a number of factual errors in that story as there were in previous stories about the Trump Foundation,” Pence said, echoing a campaign statement issued Tuesday evening. “I’m confident they’ll be able to address those and demonstrate that they fully complied with the law.”

Like the statement, Pence then pivoted to discussing the Clinton Foundation.

“To back up quick here for just a minute,” Williams said after Pence finished, “do you know what the factual errors are that the campaign is alleging in the Washington Post story?”

“Well, I think the foundation will be able to lay those out,” Pence said. “There were errors in the previous Washington Post stories, and, you know, look, you know me a while, Brian. I strongly support a free and independent press. People are entitled to ask questions, and I’m sure the Trump Foundation and the Trump family will continue to be able to answer those questions.”

Williams then pointed out that 55 days have passed since Trump held a press conference, and that Trump has broken with years of campaign precedent by refusing to allow the traveling press to join him on his plane.

Pence promised Trump was committed to promoting “transparency.”

Post reporter David Fahrenthold has published a series of investigations into Trump’s charitable foundation, prompting campaign manager Kellyanne Conway to complain Tuesday that he was “a little obsessed with Donald Trump these days.”

Fahrenthold’s other reporting has found that the Trump Foundation has largely used other people’s money to make charitable gifts since 2008, the year he last donated to his own nonprofit.

Latest Livewire
122
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. Dumb as a fence post, Pence never fails to impress…impress me as a camp follower to Trump of the lowest order!

    Not one single error…then he defers to the campiagn. At least KellyAnne Conway would lie her skinny ass off to WaPo. Pence is too dense to do so.

  2. Avatar for lew lew says:

    Mike, Mike, Mike…

    You got to go with what works when you are caught like this.

    Benghazi!!

  3. The fact that Trump is running neck to neck with Clinton only highlights how inept our system is. It doesn’t help that a vast majority of our population is clueless and votes against their interests. Regardless of what happens this year, I expect 2018 to be a Republican wave. Our country is not capable of learning from mistakes.

  4. This is so perfect in so many ways for Pence. Well done!

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

116 more replies

Participants

Avatar for old_curmudgeon Avatar for leftflank Avatar for bluestatedon Avatar for docmoore Avatar for trnc Avatar for boscobrown Avatar for mrcomments Avatar for mantan Avatar for chelsea530 Avatar for frankly_my_dear Avatar for carolg Avatar for daveyjones64 Avatar for baffie2 Avatar for cletus Avatar for oofda Avatar for floydmaster Avatar for clauscph Avatar for gladysnite Avatar for jacksonhts Avatar for lizzymom Avatar for machoneman Avatar for erratum Avatar for greysea Avatar for pike_bishop

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: