Pence on Trump indictment: 'I cannot defend what is alleged'

Former Vice President Mike Pence raised concerns that the conduct alleged in federal charges against former President Donald Trump harmed national security and put service members at risk in his latest reaction to the case against his old running mate.

"This indictment contains serious charges, and I cannot defend what is alleged," Pence said Wednesday morning on CNBC’s “Squawk Box," before he noted his family's service in the military to underline his concerns about the impact of Trump's alleged conduct.

"The very prospect that what is alleged here took place, creating an opportunity where highly sensitive classified material could have fallen into the wrong hands, even inadvertently, that jeopardizes our national security. It puts at risk the men and women of our armed forces," he continued.

Pence, who is running for the GOP presidential nomination against Trump, added that "we're all entitled to the presumption of innocence,” noting that his former running mate pleaded not guilty to the 37 felony counts, including willful retention of national defense information and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

But he also said, “I can't believe that politics didn’t play some role here."

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Pence criticized what he called a "two-tiered justice system" that gave a "pass" to 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton when the FBI chose not to pursue charges after an investigation into classified documents that were found on her personal email servers when she was secretary of state. And Pence lambasted former special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

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"We've seen the politicization at the Department of Justice for years and years," Pence said. "We saw FBI agents that falsified official documents to further that Russia hoax, and so one of the things I've said, in the days since this news broke, shortly after I announced for president, was if I have the privilege to be president of the United States, we're going to clean house at the top of the Department of Justice."

Pence made similar comments in a podcast The Wall Street Journal published Tuesday.