Pence labels rumors of a 2020 run 'absurd'

Vice President Mike Pence in a statement Sunday roundly denied any suggestion he might run against or in place of President Trump in the 2020 election.

"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," he said. "Whatever fake news may come our way, my entire team will continue to focus all our efforts to advance the president's agenda and see him re-elected in 2020. Any suggestion otherwise is both laughable and absurd."

Pence's press secretary, Marc Lotter, had already denied the 2020 possibility Saturday, and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Sunday called it "complete fiction." All three were responding to a Saturday New York Times story reporting "Pence's schedule is so full of political events that Republicans joke that he is acting more like a second-term vice president hoping to clear the field than a No. 2 sworn in a little over six months ago."

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