Will he or won’t he? After Donald Trump refused to say during the final presidential debate whether he will accept the result of the election, the businessman’s running mate, Mike Pence, gave his own answer.
The Republican presidential nominee, 70, who has vehemently claimed the election is “rigged,” dodged a question from moderator Chris Wallace on Wednesday, October 19, in Las Vegas, by responding, “I’ll tell you at the time. I’ll keep you in suspense.”
Pence, 57, explained that if their campaign loses, they will concede on one condition. “I think he’s made a point that’s resonating with millions of Americans,” the VP hopeful told the Today show. “We’re going to continue to call on people all across this country to respectfully participate in the electoral process to ensure that we can all be confident in the vote. And if the vote is fair, I’m confident that we’ll accept it.”
The Indiana governor previously told Meet the Press on Sunday, October 16, that they would accept the will of the people. “We will absolutely accept the result of the election,” he said.
Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump also stated that her father will respect the outcome, whatever it may be. “He’ll either win or he won’t win, and I believe he’ll accept the outcome either way,” the fashion designer said at a women’s summit in Laguna Niguel, California, on Wednesday. “I will tell you that the media has been vicious.”
Trump’s noncommittal response wasn’t the only debate statement that Pence had to defend. He also weighed in on the former Apprentice host calling his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton a “nasty woman.”
“I think it was a pretty rough-and-tumble debate up there,” he said. “When you think about the stakes in this election, when you think about the fact that seven and a half years of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has literally weakened America’s place in the world, stifled America’s economy, I understand. I understand some of the tough language frankly that came from both of the podiums because the stakes are just that high.”