Trump delays VP announcement after Nice, France attack
Donald Trump has selected Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his vice presidential nominee, ABC News confirmed Thursday, citing a source with direct knowledge.
Trump initially said that the official announcement will come Friday at 11:00 a.m. in New York City. However, Trump has postponed his news conference due to the truck attack in Nice, France that killed dozens. Read more about the attack here.
Pence, 57, accepted the offer and is on his way to New York City.
It became clear that Trump was warming to the prospect of selecting Pence in recent days, since he spent time with him in Indiana on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Pence introduced Trump at a rally in Westfield on Tuesday night, and Trump ended up spending the night in the Hoosier State because his plane had some mechanical issues.
Trump asked his family to fly to Indiana on Wednesday morning for a meeting with Pence at the governor's house, sources said. The meeting included Trump's children Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner. Sources told ABC News that the meeting went very well.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Pence remained mum about his VP prospects. He described the meeting as "just very warm and just one family meeting with another."
Pence, a native of Columbus, Ind., was elected governor of Indiana in 2012.
He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2001 to 2013. He was also Chairman of the House Republican conference and Chairman of the Republican Study Committee. In 2006, he ran to be minority leader of the House but lost to John Boehner. Pence previously worked as a lawyer at a private practice and launched two failed congressional bids before getting a job at a think tank. He also hosted a talk-radio show and a TV show in Indiana.
Pence is one of six children of Nancy Jane and Edward Pence, who ran a string of gas stations.
He is of Irish Catholic descent. His grandfather was a bus driver from Chicago who came to the U.S. from Ireland via Ellis Island.
Pence and his wife Karen, a former elementary school teacher, recently celebrated 31 years of marriage. They have three children. His son Michael, 24, is a Marine Corps officer. His oldest daughter Charlotte, 22, is a filmmaker who recently graduated from college. His youngest daughter Audrey, 21, goes to Hanover College and considers herself socially liberal. Audrey says her dad tells her he is proud of her for having formed her own opinions.
Pence came under fire for signing the "Religious Freedom" bill into law on March 31, 2015. Critics said the law gives businesses a license to discriminate against gays by citing religious views as a reason to deny them service. Asked on ABC's "This Week" whether businesses could refuse service to gay people under the new law, Pence repeatedly said the question was beside the point. "This isn't about disputes between individuals," he said. "It's about government overreach, and I'm proud that Indiana stepped forward, and I'm working hard to clarify this."
He eventually said he would "fix" the bill to ensure it would not allow for discrimination.
