WASHINGTON – Former Vice President Mike Pence is starting to build a political future without Donald Trump, including plans to form a policy committee focused on policies that will help him maintain a relationship with donors, according to several sources familiar with his plans. .
Pence, who left Washington and took a vacation after his wife took office in St. Croix before settling in Indiana, is expected to announce his new venture in the coming weeks, the sources said.
To say that the end of his term was difficult would be to say the least. His relationship with Trump has been virtually non-existent since a crowd of followers of the former president invaded the U.S. Capitol in a failed attempt to assassinate Pence and overturn the election result. Prior to the January 6 riot, Pence’s time with Trump was defined by the vice president’s role as a loyal soldier.
After Pence and his family had to be rushed out of the Senate chamber and hidden from troublemakers, questions arose as to whether he could testify at Trump’s impeachment trial, which will consider whether the former president was guilty of insurrection later to encourage his supporters to go to the Capitol.
However, there were no signs from lawmakers that will conduct the impeachment trial that Pence could be called as a witness, such as a discussion about taking depositions or preparing a statement.
And those close to Pence think his lawyer would argue that he has executive privileges, according to a Republican source. Executive privilege is constitutional protection that prohibits the legislative branch from compelling the testimony of the executive branch.
But it is still unclear whether the team that was with Pence on January 6, and who also experienced the mutiny, would also be able to invoke executive privilege.
Pence also seems prepared to start a new chapter and move on.
Next month, he is expected to announce the formation of a political organization known as 501 (c) 4 to broaden his positions on a “consistent conservative philosophy”, as a person familiar with the plan described it. A 501 (c) 4 group may be active in political matters, but is not allowed to participate in campaigns. This type of group can also keep its donors a secret.
Starting his own group would give Pence a safe foothold in the fundraising world, allowing him to maintain donor relationships if he decides in 2024 to run for president.
Pence is not expected to make an announcement about his own future campaigns until after the mid-term term of 2022, and advisers warn that he has not yet made a final decision on whether to run.
Pence can write a book. And he must enter the campaign before the 2022 contests to support Republican candidates, especially in the governoral contests.
Trump has suggested to the allies that he is looking forward to getting involved in primaries against Republicans who feel they have wronged him, according to sources familiar with these discussions. But Pence sources say the former vice president has not discussed the potential to support incumbents opposed to Trump.
“This is a long way off,” said one of the people familiar with Pence’s thinking.
Pence is choosing to remain out of the public eye for now.
The Pences have no home of their own, having spent the previous four years living in the vice president’s residence and the previous four years in the Indiana governor’s residence.
He plans to stay with a family member in Indiana temporarily until he buys a home in the state later this year and makes it his permanent home.
He remains protected by the Secret Service, which is typical of former vice presidents, but takes on additional meaning after the attacks on his life.
Pence’s allies remain furious because Trump never reached out to Pence while he was hiding in the Capitol, and by most accounts the relationship between the two is a shell of what it once was.
But the two men can move up the same stage again this spring: the Republican National Committee invited Trump and other aspirants to 2024 – potentially including Pence – to their spring meeting in Palm Beach in April.
