Pence says Biden advised him to ‘stay close to the president’ before taking over as VP

Mike Pence on Wednesday said President Biden gave him some advice on how to handle the job of being vice president during the transition between the Obama and Trump administrations.

“He did give me some advice,” Pence said during a NewsNation town hall event. “It was: ‘Stay close to the president and build that relationship.’ And I will tell you, for all the faults of the Obama-Biden years, they had a good working relationship.”

“And I will tell you, It didn’t end the way I wanted it to, but I’m very proud of the relationship I had with President Trump during our four years,” Pence added, saying he would “always be proud” of the Trump administration’s accomplishments.

Pence spent much of the NewsNation town hall, which featured questions from voters in Illinois and in Iowa, criticizing Biden’s presidency and arguing that his policies have put Americans in a difficult spot economically and put the country on shaky footing on the world stage.

Biden in 2019 faced backlash from Democratic voters after he called Pence a “decent guy.”

The former vice president is seeking the Republican nomination in 2024.

A Quinnipiac University national poll released Wednesday found Pence polling in fourth in the GOP primary, behind former Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.