Mike Pence on Monday heaped praise on his running mate, Donald Trump, as Pence returned to the campaign trail in North Carolina.
“It takes a big man to know when he’s wrong, and to admit it and to have the humility to apologize and to be transparent and to be vulnerable with people,” Pence said in Charlotte about Trump’s debate performance Sunday night. “And Donald Trump last night showed that he’s a big man.”
“I believe in forgiveness and we are called to forgive as we are forgiven,” he added. “And last night, my running mate he showed the American people what was in his heart. He showed humility.”
Trump was in trouble after a video released Friday showed him making remarks about using his celebrity status to take advantage of women. The video led many elected Republicans to say openly that they can’t support the nominee.
Pence praised Trump at almost the same moment that the GOP nominee began attacking House Speaker Paul Ryan, the nation’s top-ranking Republican, on Twitter. Ryan told Republican lawmakers on Monday that he would no longer defend Trump in the last month of the election.
Just a few hours later, Trump tweeted, “Paul Ryan should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs, and illegal immigration, and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee.”
