Vice President Mike Pence presides over a joint session of Congress to count electoral votes for president on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2020. (Video screenshot)
[Editor's note: This story originally was published by Real Clear Politics.]
By Philip Wegmann
Real Clear Politics
Suddenly, there were two U.S. vice presidents in Eastern Europe.
Current Vice President Kamala Harris stood side by side with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw to condemn Russian aggression on Thursday, while former Vice President Mike Pence was 250 miles southeast in the border village of Korczowa, meeting and praying with Ukrainian refugees.
And then, a source close to the former vice president told RealClearPolitics, Pence crossed over into Ukraine. He was there with his wife, Karen Pence, volunteering with Samaritan’s Purse, a prominent evangelical Christian ministry that provides relief in times of need.
Dressed in olive green jackets, the Pences held hands with fleeing Ukrainians, listened to their stories, and prayed with them moments before they officially became refugees. Pence did not, however, tell the State Department or give anyone in the Biden administration a heads-up before his visit. According to the source, the former VP had traveled there as a private citizen on a humanitarian mission.
Axios reported earlier this week that Pence flew to Israel aboard a private jet owned by Miriam Adelson, one of the most prominent and powerful mega-donors in the Republican Party. RCP can confirm that reporting and add also that the initial plan was for Pence to carry on to Morocco. That plan was scuttled in light of the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, and Pence headed to Eastern Europe instead.
“I want the Ukrainian people to know that Americans are standing with them in prayer,” Pence said in a statement released by the Christian charity. “I appreciate that Samaritan’s Purse is always on the frontlines with help in Jesus’ Name. Where there is suffering, you are there.”
Doctors and nurses with Samaritan’s Purse have set up a medical checkpoint at the Lviv train station nearby to receive patients, and supplies are en route to construct an emergency field hospital. Pence shared pictures of the trip on social media, asking his supporters to pray and to contribute to the organization to support their mission.
Edward Graham, vice president of operations for Samaritan’s Purse, was there as well and expressed gratitude for the help from the former vice president. “We’re very grateful that Vice President and Mrs. Pence care so much about the Ukrainian people,” the grandson of legendary evangelist Billy Graham said in a statement. “They were a great encouragement to our team today.”
The Pences have a long history with Samaritan’s Purse, working with the organization on several occasions to offer relief after natural disasters stateside. The humanitarian partnership in Ukraine, meanwhile, comes as the former veep considers a White House bid of his own, and after the elder statesman from Indiana sought to tamp down any affinity within the GOP for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“There is no room in this party for apologists for Putin. There is only room for champions of freedom,” Pence told donors during a closed-door fundraising event for the Republican National Committee in New Orleans last week. “Putin only understands strength. As members of the party that won the Cold War, we must send a deafening message: Putin must stop or Putin must pay,” Pence said, according to CNN.
It was a significant departure from what Donald Trump said just days earlier. Pence’s former boss called the Putin invasion “genius” and the Russian strongman “savvy.” On Thursday, Pence’s message was one of charity and solidarity – but not with the Kremlin leader. “Let’s stand together as one with the people of Ukraine,” the former vice president tweeted. But Pence also has plenty of criticism for the current administration.
Earlier this week, the Advancing American Freedom group went on air with a $10 million ad buy to slam Biden for his handling of the crisis. “Joe Biden caved to the radical environmentalists and stopped America’s Keystone Pipeline and dramatically increased Americans’ dependence on Russian oil, endangering America’s security and helping Russia fund their invasion,” a narrator says in the clip.
Pence does not appear in that ad, but it comes as Republicans sharpen their attack on the White House over how Biden handled the war in Ukraine and the spiking energy prices that have come during his tenure.
[Editor's note: This story originally was published by Real Clear Politics.]
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