Pence denies report of 2020 presidential ambitions

WASHINGTON – Vice President Mike Pence denied Sunday that he is considering running for president in 2020, issuing a statement that demonstrated how sensitive the White House is to any suggestion that President Donald Trump won’t seek a second term.

In what appeared to be a coordinated message, the White House also hit back at a report in the New York Times that described steps Pence and Republican lawmakers have taken that could position themselves for presidential candidacies.

Pence went so far as to call the newspaper’s report “disgraceful and offensive.”

“The American people know that I could not be more honored to be working side by side with a president who is making America great again,” Pence said, invoking Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan.

“Whatever fake news may come our way,” he said, citing another favored presidential phrase, “my entire team will continue to focus all our efforts to advance the president’s agenda and see him re-elected in 2020.”

While Trump began fundraising for a 2020 campaign almost immediately upon taking office, there are several potential obstacles running for re-election.

He was 70 when he took office, the oldest first-term president to be inaugurated, and has since turned 71. He would be the oldest second-term chief executive were he to win the 2020 election.

Trump’s approval ratings are the lowest at this point in a presidential term.

Moreover, an increasingly complex special counsel investigation, looking at whether Trump’s campaign cooperated with Kremlin interference in the 2016 race, has been gathering momentum.

Despite those troubles, most prominent Republicans have avoided hinting at a challenge if Trump does seek the 2020 nomination. The main exception has been Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who opposed Trump to the end in 2016 and has not ruled out running against him.

Some other Republicans, including Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Ben Sasse of Nebraska, have been making the rounds of political dinners and fundraisers, building the sort of support that they could use to run for president.

In an appearance that coincided with the release of Pence’s statement, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said it was “absolutely true the vice president is getting ready for 2020 – for re-election as vice president.”