Pence: Dining Alone With Female VP Question 'Clever'

Former Vice President and 2024 GOP presidential candidate Mike Pence called Newsnation town hall moderator Leland Vittert's question about the possibility of dining alone with a potential female vice president "clever."

"One of the things that has been said about how you conduct your personal life is you will not eat alone or meet alone with a woman," Vittert said during the televised forum while discussing possible choices for vice president including Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds. "One of the hallmarks of your presidency, and one of the things that was reported on a lot, was your private lunches one-on-one with [former President] Donald Trump. How would that work out if you had a female vice president?"

Responding to the question, Pence said, "That's a very clever question. It really is."

The Washington Post cited Pence in 2017 making the comment during a 2002 interview with The Hill in which he said that he never eats alone with a woman that is not his wife, Karen, and he does not attend events where there is alcohol unless she is at his side.

The Hill reported on current Vice President Kamala Harris slamming Pence for the comment in 2019 when she was running for president as a Democrat.

"I disagree with him when he suggests it's not possible to have meetings with women alone by himself," she said at the time. "I think that's ridiculous — the idea that you would deny a professional woman the opportunity to have a meeting with the vice president of the United States is outrageous."

While Pence did not directly answer the question about what he would do with a potential female vice president serving in his administration Wednesday, he did expand on what he and his wife agreed on.

"Let me say, it's a promise that my wife and I made to one another. It wasn't a thing that was particularly controversial. When I was first elected to Congress, I did an interview about the fact that we kept our family close in public service," Pence said Wednesday. "Somebody asked us about some of the promises we've made to one another, and I remember I said, 'Well I promised her that I wouldn't dine alone with a woman that's not my wife.' Wasn't very controversial until after I became vice president. Somebody unearthed that quote, and it became quite an issue."

He said that a New York Times poll found 60% of married couples agreed with that idea and supported his position on the issue.

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