Republicans for the Rule of Law, an organization led by Bill Kristol that describes itself as a "group of life-long Republicans dedicated to defending the institutions of our republic and upholding the rule of law," is taking aim at Vice President Mike Pence in an ad debuting on Thursday's Morning Joe on MSNBC. The ad accuses Pence of hypocrisy for criticizing the Clintons for taking foreign money while saying nothing about President Trump's open pockets for Saudi cash. The group is spending $20,000 to air the tough-love ad, USA Today reports, and its rebuke of Pence is more in sorrow than anger.
Why pick on Pence? "It's pretty clear that President Trump isn't going to listen," explained Chris Truax, a spokesman for Republicans for the Rule of Law. "Vice President Pence might listen."
Pence's chief of staff, Marc Short, shrugged off the ad as a bit of #NeverTrump irrelevance. "Without free promotion by anti-Trump press, no one would even know they still existed," he said in a statement. But many members of the group would have once considered themselves Pence Republicans, and some still regard the vice president fondly. One member of the group's board of directors, Peter Rusthoven, is from Pence's home state of Indiana. Pence officiated his remarriage. He didn't participate in making the ad.
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"I have had an affection for him and admired many of the things he has said and done," but the ad makes "a legitimate point," Rusthoven told USA Today. "Choices have consequences for everyone. One is, he's in this situation now. And it will inevitably affect how people look at him. That's just part of the deal."
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