Vice President Mike Pence talks to his predecessor, Joe Biden, at least once a month, reports an excerpt from a forthcoming book on the vice presidency published Friday at The Hill. Pence has also reached out to former Vice Presidents Dan Quayle, Dick Cheney, and Walter Mondale, and his conversations with Biden tend to center on foreign policy.
"I have fundamental disagreements with Mike, particularly on social policy and what I consider basic civil rights, civil liberties, but Mike's a guy you can talk with, you can deal with, in a traditional sense," said Biden, contrasting Pence with President Trump. "What I tell [world] leaders, who are somewhat diffident about the president, I suggest they go see Mike. I explain it this way: I say that a lot of this doesn't fall within the president's bandwidth, because he has no experience in this area."
The excerpt mostly focuses on Biden's relationship with former President Obama and other members of his administration. In one account, which quotes sources other than Biden himself, the former vice president is unhappy with how former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has represented her role in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden: Both were wary of proceeding with the mission, but Clinton later said on the campaign trail "she was completely in support of it, [and] Biden was furious. ... Biden clearly resents the way Clinton mischaracterized her position. One aide said: 'The ass covering, opportunistic version really rattled him.'"
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Read the full excerpt here.
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