Pence jabs at GOP opponents, calling promises to pardon Trump 'premature'

Former Vice President Mike Pence on Friday questioned why some of his competitors in the GOP presidential primary are implying a guilty verdict is on the horizon for former President Donald Trump in the classified documents case.

“I don’t know why some of my competitors in the Republican primary presume the president will be found guilty,” Pence said in an interview with NBC News’ Chuck Todd to air in full Sunday on “Meet the Press.”

“All we know is...what the president has been accused of in the indictment. We don’t know what his defense is. We don’t know if this will even go to trial. It could be subject to a motion to dismiss. We don’t know what the verdict will be of the jury,” Pence said.

Watch “Meet the Press” with Chuck Todd on Sunday at 9 a.m. ET or check local listings.

Several Republican candidates, including entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, have suggested they would pardon Trump if elected.

Asked whether he would take that step, Pence sidestepped the question.

“Well, I just think the question is, is premature,” he said during Friday's interview in Huntsville, Alabama.

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Pence's response echoed earlier remarks he made this week to "The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show," when he also said that the charges Trump faces are serious and that he “does deserve to make his defense."

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Trump has been indicted in two cases, most recently on 37 counts stemming from more than 100 classified documents that were recovered from Mar-a-Lago in August.

Before that he was indicted in the Manhattan district attorney’s hush money case, which charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to his alleged role in making hush-money payments to two women before the 2016 election.

Trump has pleaded not guilty in both cases.

Asked on Friday if he would pardon Trump if he were in President Joe Biden’s shoes, Pence did not directly answer and instead said: “I just think this whole matter is incredibly divisive for the country...It is saddening to me that we are now in this moment."