Pence: Trump ‘candid’ in talks with foreign leaders

Vice President Pence is defending the combative tone of President Trump’s phone conversations with world leaders, saying the president has been “candid” in expressing his views. 

“I think the American people have a president that is candid with them and candid with the world,” Pence said in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity set to air Thursday.

“His conversations with world leaders reflect a respectfulness but a seriousness and directness that the people of this country are already used to coming from President Donald Trump,” Pence added.

{mosads}Trump has found himself in hot water after leaked accounts of his talks with the leaders of Australia and Mexico showed he took a confrontational approach with two close U.S. partners.

The president boasted about the size of his Electoral College victory with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and suggested he might renege on a refugee resettlement deal brokered by former President Barack Obama.

In his talks last week with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, Trump said he might send in the U.S. military to deal with “bad hombres” south of the border, according to The Associated Press.

The White House later said the comment was meant in a “lighthearted” way.