Pence Deepens Rift With Trump Over Putin Praise, 2020 Obsession

(Bloomberg) -- Former Vice President Mike Pence plans to tell Republican donors that there's no place in the GOP for “apologists” of Russian President Vladimir Putin, his latest shot at Donald Trump ahead of a possible 2024 presidential election bid.

Pence is expected to make the comments about Putin and defend the expansion of NATO in Eastern Europe during a speech Friday night at the Republican National Committee's spring retreat in New Orleans, according to excerpts obtained by Bloomberg News.

“There is no room in this party for apologists for Putin,” Pence plans to say, according to the excerpts. “There is only room for champions of freedom.”

Trump, who's also scheduled to speak at the retreat this weekend, has called the invasion of Ukraine “an assault on humanity” that wouldn't have happened had he been re-elected in 2020. But he's also stood by widely-panned comments he made as Putin ramped up the attack, calling the Russian president's strategy “pretty smart, “genius” and “very savvy.”

Pence's speech will be the second time in the last month that he has publicly broken with Trump, after four years of displaying resolute loyalty to his former boss until he refused Trump's order to try to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 electoral win during Congress's Jan. 6, 2021 certification. Exactly one month ago, Pence rejected Trump's claims that he had the authority to overturn the results.

Pence plans to praise Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for his efforts in leading the resistance to the invasion. He also supports the traditional hawkish GOP position, calling on the Biden administration to increase military spending, arm Ukraine with lethal weapons, and sanction all financial institutions in Russia as well as ban all Russian oil exports worldwide. In line with public comments from other members of his party, Pence will also criticize Biden's foreign policy strategies.

The former vice president also plans to chide Trump's focus on his false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Pence plans to say Republicans can only win if they are “‘united around an optimistic vision for the future based on our highest values,” not looking backward.

“Elections are about the future,” Pence plans to say, according to the excerpts. “We cannot win by fighting yesterday's battles, or by re-litigating the past.”