Mike Pence news: Ex-VP contradicts himself on Trump charges at CNN town hall launching 2024 campaign

The next question from the audience is about Pence’s stance on Ukraine.

“Look, I know that some in this debate have called the war in Ukraine a territorial dispute. It’s not. It was a Russian invasion, an unprovoked Russian invasion.”

He goes on to say that America is the centre of the free world and it is in the US’s national interest to help Ukraine.

Stopping Russian aggression is key he says and that will send a message to China too.

Asked about Donald Trump’s comments on Ukraine, Pence says: “Frankly, when Vladimir Putin rolled into Ukraine, the former president called him a genius. I know the difference between a genius and a war criminal. And I know who needs to win in the war in Ukraine, and it’s the people fighting for their freedom.”

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Mike Pence has called on the Justice Department to not prosecute Donald Trump for his handling of classified documents but refused to say he would pardon the former president if he won the White House.

The former vice president told a CNN town hall in Des Moines, Iowa, that he viewed the handling of classified material as “a very serious matter” but told host Dana Bash that federal prosecutors should leave Mr Trump alone.

“I would hope not, I really would,” he said when asked if the DoJ special counsel Jack Smith should indict Mr Trump over the documents found at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

“I think it would be terribly divisive to the country at a time when the American people are hurting.”

Graeme Massie reports.

After a short break, Pence is asked about his conversion from Catholicism to Evangelicalism during college. There is a brief light-hearted moment before he calls out the Dodgers for their Pride event and the inclusion of what he calls religious bigotry — the irreverent order of drag nuns called the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

He reiterates he is a Christian, a Conservative, and a Republican in that order.

Here’s what you need to know about the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence:

Another audience question, this time concerning immigration.

Pence says his religious beliefs include compassion and he believes that should be the centre of the immigration debate. He goes on to talk about how America once had a guestworker program and that could be one way of approaching some of the current problems.

He also talks about the cartels and the need to approach the problems from both sides of the southern border.

Pence says he would not reinstate the family separation program (which Trump would not confirm) and goes on to say that the the country cannot keep trying to address immigration with bandaids and small fixes.

Moving on to education, Pence spends much of his initial answer praising Karen Pence before pivoting to school choice for parents and then on to the transgender treatment of children saying he is against — no matter what the parents believe.

Bash pushes back asking why he is so much for parents’ rights except on this issue. He says he is convinced it is an exception because it is setting them on a course from which they cannot turn back.

Pushed further he says adults can live how they want and get such treatment but there is a cut-off for those above the age of 18 for a reason and transgender children who want treatment should wait.

After another break, Bash references the toxic air across the northeast from wildfires in Canada and asks if the climate crisis will be a priority.

Pence says the weather is changing but he wants to focus on American innovation to tackle such disasters.

He refers to radical environmentalists and their beliefs.

The next topic brought up by an audience member (the second Republican woman who voted for Joe Biden) is social security.

Pence jokes that he is more interested as he turned 64 today.

He argues that social security is in desperate need of reform and neither Trump nor Biden want to touch it.

Asked if he would raise the retirement age as one fix to stop social security from going bankrupt, he says that when Americans have been confronted with hard realities in the past they have risen to the occasion.

Pence is asked by an audience member about how Americans have lost faith in government institutions such as the CDC and FBI.

He replies that people are policy and he has the right relationships in Washington and at the state level to assemble a team they would be proud of to address the problem.

Another audience question, this time on crime in major cities.

Pence says he will not defund the police and says his “heart breaks for Chicago” (where his parents are from) and he wants to get serious about violent crime and give the police and cities what they need.

Bash challenges him on Chicago and points out that half of the guns recovered in the city come from his home state of Indiana.

This leads to a response about mass shootings in which he vows to protect the second amendment but also adds that anyone who commits a mass shooting should face the death penalty within 18 months.

He later adds that every school in America should have trained armed guards.

Bash counters that such guards have not always worked. Pence says he emphasises training these guards.

He adds that institutional mental healthcare is also vital and references the Parkland shooter whose mother asked multiple times for help before he committed the mass shooting for which he is now in jail for life.