Vice President Mike Pence went off the grid after the release of the Access Hollywood tape in which President Trump bragged about groping women without their consent.
Pence called his running mate after the tape was released in October 2016 and urged him to sincerely apologize for the comments. The vice presidential candidate then cut off communication with the campaign and other prominent Republicans, according to the forthcoming book American Carnage.
“That was the last anyone had heard from the VP nominee. Pence had gone back to Indiana and bunkered down, cutting himself off from the outside world, praying with his wife about what to do next and telling his advisers that he wasn’t sure he could continue with the campaign,” an excerpt of the book reads.
House Speaker Paul Ryan had asked Pence to attend a rally in his district after the Wisconsin Republican refused to appear with Trump in the aftermath of the tape’s release. Pence agreed but then stood up the House speaker.
“There was no notice, no courtesy call from the VP nominee’s staff. Ryan dialed his old friend’s cell number and got voice mail. Pence was AWOL,” according to the book.
Instead, Pence spent the day at his Indiana home, praying with his wife, Karen, who was “apoplectic” and warned her husband “that she would no longer appear in public if he carried on as Trump’s running mate,” the book said.
Pence wrote a letter to Trump explaining the anguish it caused him and wife, leading two Trump advisers to worry Pence would be leaving the ticket.
Pence returned to the campaign trail after Trump came out swinging at Hillary Clinton at a debate days after the tape’s release.
