Vice President Pence defends Trump’s invitation to Putin

WASHINGTON (WISH) – Vice President Mike Pence is defending President Donald Trump’s decision to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to the White House. 

Pence said Trump’s decision to invite Putin to a second summit in Washington is about promoting peace. 

“President Trump is absolutely determined to see if we could improve our relationship with Russia,” Pence said. 

The vice president said the world’s two biggest nuclear powers need to be talking to each other. 

Many in Congress say the president has been too soft on Putin and Russian, but the vice president said he disagrees. 

“We’ll be very clear, we won’t tolerate a malign influence by Russia,” Pence said.

This weekend, Pence will travel to Tennessee and Georgia, two states where farmers are manufacturers are already losing money and jobs because of the president’s trade battles with China and our allies in Europe, Canada and Mexico. 

Pence said, “We have every confidence in the days ahead … that we’ll be able to make real progress, whether it be in NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) that’s made significant progress in recent months or renegotiating our trade relationship with the EU (European Union).”

“Our message to people across the country is: be confident,” Pence added.

The vice president said it is up to Congress to act but hinted the president intends to put the pressure on lawmakers this fall. 

“There will be another round of spending bills. I can assure you, the president is going to continue to fight,” Pence said. 

On going back home to Indiana, the vice president said he does not get to do that as often as he would like but he will be in the Hoosier state quite a bit because of the midterm elections. He is going to be campaigning through the country next week as well.