.@realDonaldTrump commends Pence’s debate performance, says “I’m getting a lot of credit…that was my first hire.” https://t.co/Nmh3zWwkoP
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) October 5, 2016
Tuesday night, Pence had the difficult task of defending Donald Trump’s past statements — many of which he flat-out denied. After reports surfaced that Trump was furious at assessments of Pence’s debate performance because he “can’t stand to be upstaged,” campaign manager Kellyanne Conway made the rounds to media outlets Wednesday morning to deny that this was the case.
Then, during a campaign rally in Las Vegas, Trump took credit for Pence’s performance, saying that the Indiana governor was his “first hire.”
“How many of you watched the vice presidential debate last night?” Trump asked a crowd of supporters. “Mike Pence did an incredible job, and I’m getting a lot of credit because that’s really my first so-called choice. That was my first hire, as we would say in Las Vegas.”
TRUMP: Pence was cool. He was smart. He was my first hire. Thank you Mike Pence. He had the most decisive victory in history of VP debate.
— Adam Herbets, FOX 13 🏔️ (@AdamHerbets) October 5, 2016
The vice presidential debate, for the most part, was a snooze-fest. There were some highlights, however, like when Tim Kaine and Pence bickered over who was closer to the Pentagon on 9/11, got into a shouty back-and-forth, and offended viewers by constantly manterrupting the moderator, Elaine Quijano.
The next debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton will take place Sunday, October 9, at Washington University in St. Louis. It will be moderated by CNN’s Anderson Cooper and ABC’s Martha Raddatz.
