Vice President Pence on Thursday characterized President Trump’s recent conversations with foreign leaders as “candid” but respectful, following reports that Trump scolded Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbell and other heads of state during phone calls last weekend.
“I think the American people have a president that is candid with them and candid with the world,” Pence told Fox News’ Sean Hannity in an interview set to air Thursday evening. “His conversations with world leaders reflect a respectfulness but a seriousness and directness that the people of this country are already used to coming from President Donald Trump.”
“And the rest of the world is discovering that,” he added.
Trump faced an onslaught of criticism late Wednesday night after sources told several outlets that he abruptly ended a phone call with Turnbell on Saturday after the prime minister urged him to honor an Obama-era deal in which the U.S. had agreed to admit up to 1,250 refugees from Australian detention centers.
“Believe me. When you hear about the tough phone calls I’m having, don’t worry about it. Just don’t worry about it,” Trump told National Prayer Breakfast attendees Thursday morning. “They’re tough. We have to be tough. It’s time we’re going to be a little tough, folks.”
According to Pence, Trump spoke with foreign leaders “the way he always does: respectfully, firmly [and] directly.”
“And I think the world welcomes him,” the vice president opined.
But others, including Republican lawmakers who supported Trump early on in his campaign, urged the president to consider his tone.
“Businesspeople tend to go straight at a problem. It’s kind of the world that they have lived in,” Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., told reporters. “As opposed to dealing with the CEO of a company, you’re dealing with a country and you’ve got popular opinion within that country. So it’s important, in that context, to understand … those things.”
