Mike Pence refuses to identify as ‘MAGA Republican’ as he vows to ‘clean house’ at DOJ

Former Vice President Mike Pence vowed to “clean house” at the Justice Department if elected to the Oval Office — while refusing to identify as a “MAGA Republican” during an interview on Sunday.

Pence, 64, who is running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, claimed the DOJ has lost credibility, and said he would restore its reputation by hiring straight-shooters to conduct investigations without fear or favor.

“The pattern of the Justice Department during our four years in the White House and since has undermined public confidence in equal treatment under the law,” Pence said on NBC’s “Meet The Press.”

“It’s one of the reasons why I tell people that if I have the privilege of being president of the United States, we’re not just going to have a new attorney general and a new FBI director,” he continued. “I’m going to clean house on the whole top floor of the Justice Department and demand that we have men and women who are respected on both sides of the aisle as people of integrity who will apply the rule of law in this country equally to every American.”

The ex-veep is one of the candidates facing off against former President Donald Trump, the front-runner in the Republican primary despite facing three criminal indictments, two of them brought by the DOJ.

Pence, however, demurred when pressed by host Chuck Todd on whether he identifies with the “Make America Great Again” slogan and movement started by Trump, 77, having served as his 2016 running-mate and veep for four years.

“I’m a Christian, a conservative and a Republican in that order. I’ve always said that. People who know me know those are my values. Those are my ideals,” he said.

“And I really believe that the agenda that I’ve always been about, that I’m looking forward to take to that debate stage, is the agenda that will bring this country all the way back.”

Still, Pence said he was “incredibly proud” of the record of the “Trump-Pence administration,” adding, “With the support of MAGA Americans, we literally did make America great again.”

Pence slammed the FBI and DOJ over how the Russian investigation of Trump was mishandled. And he also said he welcomed the appointment of Delaware US Attorney David Weiss as special counsel in the ongoing Hunter Biden criminal investigation.

He claimed that former FBI Director James Comey gave Hillary Clinton “a pass” that “no other American would have gotten” with his handling of the investigation into her use of a private email server while secretary of state.

“I lived through that for two and a half years when we were busy rebuilding our military, cutting taxes, unleashing American energy, securing our border. All the while, we actually had FBI agents that were falsifying documents and pushing a political agenda within the Justice Department,” Pence said. 

Clinton has blamed Comey in part for her loss to Trump in the 2016 presidential election by his re-opening the probe of her email server.