Vice President Mike Pence joined Brian Kilmeade to discuss how President Trump has brought an extreme pressure campaign on North Korea which has helped bring Kim Jong-un to the negotiating table on denuclearization. Pence said the President remains hopeful the summit will take place in Singapore on June 12. When asked about President Trump ordering the Department of Justice to look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for political purposes, Pence said the President and his Administration appreciate the swift action taken by Department of Justice to expand the current investigation by the Inspector General on possible spying on the Trump campaign in 2016.
Listen here for the full interview:
BRIAN KILMEADE, HOST, THE BRIAN KILMEADE SHOW: Welcome back, everybody. Joining us right now is the vice president of the United States, Mike Pence. Welcome, Mr. Vice President. Thanks so much for joining us.
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Brian, always good to be with you. Thank you.
KILMEADE: And first off, congratulations. Your brother won the nomination, right?
PENCE: Very, very proud of him. He’s — he’ll be a great, great candidate and I know he’s going to be a great member of Congress.
KILMEADE: Brother Greg. And see (ph) if he can win the general. He’s got the nomination. So you have a right now more powerful position, vice president of the United States and something’s going on today in Washington, arguably the most important. The leader of South Korea’s here to talk to the president but he’s not talking about his summit he just had with Kim Jong-il (ph).
They were supposed to have a meeting last week, it was cancelled. What could you tell us about what you hope to accomplish today or what the president hopes to accomplish today?
PENCE: Well I know just a couple hours from now, President Moon will arrive here at the White House at a — at a previously scheduled meeting and we look forward to a thorough discussion with him about not only his meeting with Kim Jong-un at the end of last month but the progress that we continue to hope to make toward achieving by peaceable means what has alluded the world for decades.
I meant he truth is, Brian, that — that — that during the 1990s and again right after the turn of the 21st century, the United States entered into negotiations for Korea to abandon it’s nuclear and ballistic missiles program only to see North Korea break those promises after concessions were given. President Trump marshaled the world community, brought an extreme pressure campaign early in our administration.
Kim Jong-un reached out just a few months ago with the offer to suspend all nuclear testing, all ballistic testing and offer to enter into negotiations for complete denuclearization in exchange for a meeting with President Trump. The president accepted that invitation and — and plans continue to go forward for a summit. We remain open to it, we remain hopeful.
But let me be very clear with all your listeners. Nothing has changed about the policy of the United States of America. There have been no concessions offered and none given. We continue to bring economic and diplomatic pressure to bear while we reserve all options because President Trump has made it clear that this administration is going to ensure that — that North Korea —
KILMEADE: Right.
PENCE: — abandons its nuclear and ballistic missile program and — and stops threatening the people of the United States and our allies in the region.
KILMEADE: So what I have heard as of last week is despite everything we read in the press and the cancellation of the South Korea meeting last week, the White House has not been notified that there’s any delay with Singapore, is that correct? You guys have any formal communiqué with North Korea citing any type of being disconcerted at all about the military exercises or anything else?
PENCE: Well let me say I don’t want to get into specific contacts and communications between the United States and — and the Kim regime. But we’re — we continue to be open. The president continues to be open to traveling to Singapore on June the 12th, sitting down with Kim Jong-un. And I know the president — the president desires to achieve, by peaceable means, what really has alluded the world for decades.
But make no mistake about it, we will continue to bring the full range of economic and diplomatic pressure to bear even while we reserve all options on the table. Look, I mean — but let’s — let’s be clear. We are where we are, Brian because President Trump took a strong stand early in this administration. He — he communicated consistently and at times bluntly with the regime in Pyongyang about the determination of — of the United States to finally resolve the issue of nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula.
And it’s been the president’s strong leadership that has brought us to this point and we remain — we remain open to — to sitting down and seeing if we can resolve these issues by peaceable means.
KILMEADE: I hear you. And one person who doesn’t talk to the president as much as you but talks to him often, especially on foreign policy, is Senator Lindsey Graham. Here’s what he said about what’s at stake for Kim Jong-un. Cut 20.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), S.C.: He is doing the things that I would hope he would do as president. If the North Koreans stiff him, if they sit down and meet with him and try to plan, they’re going to regret it. If they don’t meet June 12th, that’s probably the end of diplomacy. Plan B would be military operations to stop the threat that North Korea presents to —
(END AUDIO CLIP)
KILMEADE: Do you agree things change if the Singapore doesn’t come off, it’s not back to — not back to sanctions, it’s either war or peace?
PENCE: Well Brian, let’s be clear that — and I said this last night with Martha MacCallum, that — that — that the Kim regime in the 1990s and shortly after the turn of the 21st century played the United States. They played the Clinton administration, they played the Bush administration, it was all a part of let’s — let’s begin discussions about denuclearization then concessions were actually delivered.
And after concessions were delivered in exchange for promises, then promises were broken. President Trump has made it clear that that’s not going to happen. You know — you know, it — it would be a grave mistake for Kim Jong-un to think that he could play President Trump. It will not happen. There will not be concessions offered by the United States of America and — and will not be delivered until we have verifiable and irreversible denuclearization initiated.
We need to see North Korea reach the point of no return on their nuclear weapons program before any — before any concessions will be delivered. And that’s how this is going to be different this time. But make no mistake about it. As I said yesterday, this —
KILMEADE: Right.
PENCE: — there was much talk last week about the Libyan model. And the president made it clear, I tried to make it clear last night on television that this will only end like the Libya model if we don’t make a deal. And — but the opportunity here —
KILMEADE: The Libya model is Gaddafi dead in a pipe — in a sewer pipe. Are you saying he — he’s dead if he doesn’t come to the table in Singapore?
PENCE: Well look, the Libya model began with — with Gaddafi negotiating with the world community to abandon his weapons of mass destruction. Which were hauled out of Libya and seven years later, the outcome that you describe happening (ph). The reality here is President Trump has made it clear from very early on that all options are on the table. We’re simply not going to tolerate the regime in North Korea —
KILMEADE: Right.
PENCE: — possessing nuclear weapons, the ballistic missiles that enable them to deliver them to the United States or our allies and threatening us — threatening our people and threatening our — the region. So — but again, we remain hopeful that — you know, as evidenced in the inter-Korean summit last month, as evidenced in an outreach from Pyongyang to the United States for a meeting that — that — that we can either go to Singapore —
KILMEADE: Right.
PENCE: — or in some future negotiations we can achieve by peaceable means the objectives that the president has stated unambiguously.
KILMEADE: And Mr. Vice President, would you say that it’s less — do you think it’s 50/50 whether this comes off or not?
PENCE: Well I wouldn’t want to handicap it. What I would tell you is — is President Trump has made it clear that he’s open to the meeting. You know, I think it’s — it’s important —
KILMEADE: Got you (ph).
PENCE: — to note that Kim Jong-un requested the meeting. He — the — the South Koreans came to the White House with a specific offer from the Kim regime that said he would cease nuclear testing, cease (ph) ballistic missile testing, he would not object to American military operations and — and that he would be willing to negotiate for the complete denuclearization.
In the interim, we’ve seen the release that we welcomed of three Americans that were held hostage by the Kim regime. I was at that homecoming just a few —
KILMEADE: Yes.
PENCE: — short days ago. It was an inspiring moment early in the morning hours at Andrews Air Force Base. So we — you know, we — we’ve seen — you know, we’ve seen progress but in the midst of all of that, they offered all of those things in exchange for an invitation to sit down with President Trump —
KILMEADE: Right.
PENCE: — and I was in that meeting. He told the —
KILMEADE: Right.
PENCE: — South Koreans on the spot, I’ll take the meeting, he’s ready to sit down —
KILMEADE: Got you.
PENCE: — but — but, you know, whether it happens on June the 12th or at any point in the future, as the president likes to say, we’ll see.
KILMEADE: All right, Mr. — if I can get you, Mr. Vice President, to talk about what’s going on — our own Jabba (ph) — John Roberts is reporting that this so-called informant, whose names we’re not using, now can confirm that he met with a third Trump campaign official, Sam Clovis. He has worked Carter Page, Papadopoulos, now Sam Clovis.
And then we have Mike Caputo comes out and says, I’m ready to come out with another name that he believes worked him. What can you tell us about this investigation and for those who say you guys are being irresponsible by talking about these sources?
PENCE: Well what I can tell you is that the — the president and our entire administration appreciate the swift action taken this weekend by the Department of Justice to expand the current investigation by the inspector general to include what, you know, may well have been surveillance or even spying on our campaign in 2016.
Look, we — we don’t know what happened. We see the press reports but as I said, the very suggestion that officials within the FBI —
KILMEADE: Right.
PENCE: — might have detailed, you know, an FBI informant to surveil or to spy on our campaign should be deeply troubling to millions of Americans and the American people have a right know what happened. And we’re very — we’re very —
KILMEADE: Mr. Vice President, you have to — yes, you — you have run. I know that.
(CROSSTALK)
PENCE: — general will do their work and — and we’ll get to the bottom of it.
KILMEADE: And lastly, John Brennan’s been very hostile towards the president directly. What do you say to John Brennan who says that you guys are breaching protocol and calling out Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan to essentially reign the President and your whole administration in?
PENCE: Well I think the President’s directive this weekend asking the Inspector General, whose job it is to review practices within the justice department and within the FBI. The President’s action is perfectly appropriate Brian and your listeners should know, we’re going to get to the bottom of this, we’re going to get the facts to the American people.
And in the midst of all of that, we’re going to continue as these various investigations continue to move forward, in this White House from which I’m speaking to you this morning, we’re going to continue to focus on the issue’s that matter most to the American people. That’s the peace and security of the world, we’re going to continue to see this economy grow and expand, three million new jobs resulting from historic tax cuts and deregulation.
And I couldn’t be more proud to be standing shoulder to shoulder with President Donald Trump as we make this country strong and prosperous again and we’ll stay focused on those big issues and – but make no mistake about it, the American people will have the facts on these things in due time. And I truly do believe that the process that’s under way is the proper way to review these allegations and get that information to the American people.
KILMEADE: Mr. Vice President look forward to seeing you in studio soon, thanks so much for your time today.
PENCE: Thank you Brian, always good to be with you.
KILMEADE: All right, Mike Pence joining us live, the Vice President of the United States.
