President mike pence talking about his recent trip to south korea and the Winter Olympics, followed by lawmakers discussing ways to prevent foreign meddling in u. S. Elections. Then senator mcconnell and Chuck Schumer talking about ways to Work Together in congress. With vicenterview president mike pence. He talked about attending the opening surmise in south korea ceremonies to the Winter Olympics and south korea. This interview with mike allen is half an hour. Ladies and gentlemen, please join the conversation this xios. Ng using a please join our host, mike allen. Making thesefor news conversations possible. Thank you to cspan for caring this event today. I thank my colleagues who made all of this possible, including our ceo, our cofounder, and a couple friends of the show. I thank all of you for being here. I really appreciate it. I look forward to seeing you here, where we make you smarter. Hop on axios. Com. Our next guest has been a congressman, a House Republican leader, the governor of indiana, and is now the Vice President of the United States. Always a hoosier. On behalf of all of my hardworking colleagues, we are honored to welcome to the stage Vice President mike pence. [applause] mike good morning, mr. Vice president. Welcome back. You were just telling us that at the olympics, you realize that you are good at to winter sports, sledding and skiing. Vice pres. Pence if i get up the slopes without anything being broken, i think it is a gold medal. Mike in addition to the offices i mentioned at the top, you were a statewide radio host in indiana. Used to cut yourself rush call yourself Rush Limbaugh on decaf. You ever think to yourself, this would be so awesome if i was on radio still . Vice pres. Pence i do. How did you know that where i started out . That was a little radio station. I started out doing a Washington Update on wednesday nights, one day a week. It did grow into a Daily Radio Program that i thought might actually be my career in broadcasting radio and television. The opportunity came along to run for congress one of more time. Now i am sitting with u. S. Vice president of the United States. It is all very humbling to me. Mike you are just back from the olympics. On air force two on the way home you told Washington Post columnist josh rogan that you had conversations with south korea about engagement with north korea. What is the u. S. Stance for talking with north korea . Vice pres. Pence let us be clear who you are dealing with. North korea is the most repressive regime and the planet. As the United Nations has documented repeatedly, north korea is a nation that oppresses its people. Seven out of 10 north koreans require Food Assistance just to survive. Over a million north koreans were left to starve and die in the 1990s under this regime. Torture, brutality, imprisonment, more than 100,000 north koreans are in modernday gulags. As President Trump said memorably, north korea is today nothing short of a prison state. That is the reality. The fact that north korea is developing and pursuing Nuclear Weapons that could be delivered on Ballistic Missiles to the continental United States is completely unacceptable. The fixed policy of the United States of america is that we are going to continue, with all options on the table, to bring intensifying economic and diplomatic pressure to bear until north korea, once and for all, completely and verifiably abandons its Nuclear Weapons and Ballistic Missile program. That is the fixed policy of the United States of america. As President Trump has said many times, i always believe in talking. We have made it very clear that we are open to communicating our policy to the regime in north korea. What north korea needs to understand, as i made clear in an announcement in japan, when we announced a new round of sanctions that will be imposed, the largest ever. We are confident our allies will join us on it. Nothing will change until the day comes that north korea permanently abandons its Nuclear Weapons and Ballistic Missile programs and ceases to threaten the United States of america. Mike it does not sound like those two things are preconditions for any conversation. It looks like when you are looking at the tools in your belt, you are talking about more talking. Vice pres. Pence it is accurate to say that we want to make sure north korea understands us. If there is an opportunity for talks that can communicate the fixed policy of United States of america to them, the president has made it clear. He always believes in talking. Talking is not negotiation. Talking is understanding one another. When you think of the mendacity of this regime, the appalling record of human rights i sat in seoul last week with defectors from north korea, a woman who had been jailed for 28 years for no reason whatsoever. She managed to escape that regime. Another young woman who had been incarcerated and then sold into sex slavery and then, once she was recaptured, she was forced to have an abortion and lost a child she still grieves with tears in her eyes to this day. We all heard of the extraordinary and inspiring story during the president s state of the union address. We cannot allow a regime like north korea to possess Nuclear Weapons and Ballistic Missiles to threaten the United States of america because the record that they have demonstrated, their lack of respect for human rights, their lack of respect for their own people, their willingness to use violence and torture against their own people, it makes it an unacceptable outcome. We will continue to maintain north korea must completely and verifiably and permanently abandon its Nuclear Weapons program and its Ballistic Missile programs. When that commences, then and only then can we consider any change in posture by the United States or the international community. Mike is it a little swampy to say you will talk but not negotiate . It sounds a little washington. Vice pres. Pence the president has made it very clear. All options are on the table. The United States has a viable military option to deal with the threat of nuclear and Ballistic Missiles from north korea. Our hope is that we can achieve by peaceful means what they the World Community has agreed long ago, the denuclearization of north korea and the removal of Nuclear Weapons from that regime. We want to exhaust every opportunity to make sure the north koreans understand our attentions and the seriousness of the United States of america and our allies. This is a very important point. As i met with president moon, Prime Minister abe, there is no daylight between the United States of america and south korea and japan on our commitment to continue to intensify our maximum Pressure Campaign on north korea until they abandon their Nuclear Weapons program. South korea has commenced its interkorean talks over the olympics, and there is some suggestion that that may continue. We have made it very clear that we will all remain united in our shared commitment that the kim regime in north korea must permanently abandon their Nuclear Weapons program before there is any progress whatsoever on the pressure on the sanctions that are being placed on that nation. Mike this may have escaped your notice, but the north korean leaders sister got some coverage on tv. We saw pictures of her behind you in the box. Did you give any consideration to greeting her . Vice pres. Pence i did not. I did not avoid the dictators sister. I did ignore her. I did not believe it was proper for the United States of america to give any attention in that forum to someone who is not merely the sister of the dictator but is the leader of the propaganda effort. You have to remember, this is a family that very recently ordered that their brother be murdered using chemical weapons. The world saw that in horror on airport videos, reproduced. This is a regime and a family that also ordered that their uncle be executed with artillery fire in front of a crowd of 10,000 people. She is the leader of the propaganda effort of that government. This is evil the likes of which we have witnessed rarely in our time around the world. I wanted to send, by my silence, a very clear message that the people of the United States of america know who were dealing with and that we are going to continue to stand firmly and strong with resolve and with our allies until the regime in north korea ceases to threaten our country and our allies with nuclear and Ballistic Missiles. We will continue to hold them to account on their appalling record of abuse of human rights of their own people. Intelligence, dan coots, expects mike the director of national intelligence, dan coots, expects russia to interfere in the 2018 elections. Do you agree . Vice pres. Pence the first thing we all agree on is that, irrespective of efforts that were made in 2016 by foreign powers, it is the universal conclusion of our intelligence communities that none of those efforts had any effect on the outcome of the 2016 election. That is the accepted view. There were efforts by russia, and likely by other countries, to involve or influence american elections. We take that very seriously. As we speak, that inquiry, Investigation Continues to be ongoing. It is also forwardlooking. In my briefings at a variety of our intelligence agencies, we have discussed plans Going Forward to ensure that meddling in our elections by russians or other powers around the world will be rebutted, and we will continue to develop the kind of technologies that ensure and maintain the integrity of our electoral system. Mike what is an example of how you can stop or make it harder for them to interfere . Vice pres. Pence we all remember north korea hacking sony. The reality is, today, whether it be corporate espionage or other types of espionage, other countries are constantly trying to penetrate the Information Technology infrastructure of the United States of america. Hardening that infrastructure will be an ongoing effort of this administration and congress Going Forward. Let me say again, the encouraging word is that it is the universal conclusion of our intelligence communities that there was no impact on the outcome of the 2016 election. I believe that bears repeating. The American People can be confident about the results of the election in 2016. Going forward, we are going to lean into this effort to continue to ensure that our statebased election systems and all of the infrastructure of this country are protected from foreign interference. Mike you are at the olympics when the news came of the staff secretary. You are the father of two daughters. You got a lot of credit for your comments. You said there is no tolerance in the white house and no place in america for domestic abuse. You said youre going to look in into the matter. What have you found . Vice pres. Pence this administration has no tolerance for domestic violence. Nor should any american. As the white house has said, i think the white house couldve handled this better. I still feel that way. That being said, any more counsel i have on this i will share with the president of the United States. Mike are you 100 confident that general kelly has been fully honest and transparent in his estimation of rob porter departure . Vice pres. Pence there are very few americans that have served this nation more honorably or sacrifice more for this country than the family of general john kelly. John kellys service in uniform, his distinguished service at our department of homeland security, where we saw dramatic reduction of illegal dressings at our southern border, and his distinguished service as chief of staff, gives me the president me and the president great confidence. Family members in uniform, here and gone, have served this nation with the love and patriotism and passion that should inspire us all depression. Inspire us all. Mike you are saying that he think you should say stay . Vice pres. Vice pres. Pence john kelly has done a remarkable job. Mike you did a lot of overseas travel on behalf of the president. You plan an aggressive midterm campaign. You are off to the great state of texas . Vice pres. Pence we are. Im not surprised that you notice there are some elections coming up. Midterm elections for the party in office in the white house are historically challenging. I really like our chances this year. I have already been out on the campaign trail. We look forward to talking about a record of accomplishment that was made possible by republican majorities. It really is amazing to think about how far this country has come just in the first year of this administration. Rolling back federal red tape, transforming the federal judiciary, more court of appeal singleconfirmed in a year than in american history, seeing us pass historic tax relief for the American People. Tax relief that has already bonus or payans of raise. We have seen the Dynamic Growth over the last year of the stock market, adding to retirement and savings of a million americans. Last week, an agreement reached on capitol hill to lift the budget caps and finally, after years of military cutbacks, to be making a kind of investment in the American Military that will ensure the Strongest Military in the history of the world will be stronger still. I cannot be more proud of all of those accomplishments. We are putting america first. Campaigning will be a great privilege for me. Mike what is the biggest mistake the Trump Administration made in year one . Vice pres. Pence expecting a bit more cooperation from the democrat mike that does not count. Vice pres. Pence you know history better than most. The level of obstruction by the democrat minority in the senate, just to routine appointments, is astonishing. I was with the secretary of a education. We were talking about progress in our schools earlier this week. She is still waiting for her deputy secretary of education. There are five other major of appointments in the department of education that are still being held up by democratic obstruction in the senate. When the American People elected the president , they elected an administration. There has always been that great tradition that after the proper role of advising and consent that the president is allowed to surround himself with men and women they think will be able to advance the agenda that they were elected to advance. The level of obstruction has been unprecedented by this democrat minority in the senate. We hope that changes. Hopeful on the immigration issue we see more cooperation. Mike i think you were a little too hard on yourself. [laughter] mike as people understand the president , what do people get most right and wrong about the man behindthescenes . Vice pres. Pence what they get most right about my friend the president of the United States is that he says what he means and he means what he says. It is one of the reasons why the world has seen a real restoration of american credibility. When the president made that decision, in just a few short days, that syria had crossed a redline using chemical weapons against innocent civilians, this president said, i mean what i said. He launched more than 50 cruise missiles, precision impact, as a response to that. The reason why you have seen the World Community rally around President Trumps call to isolate north korea economically and diplomatically on an increasing basis because they know this president means what he says. Mike what is misunderstood . What do we get wrong about President Trump . Vice pres. Pence i am biased. I did not know him very well before he called and asked if i would be willing to be considered for this job. I met him twice. Really just in passing. I think the world gets his mind and strength. President donald trump is a man with a big heart. He loves his family. When you travel across the country, people across this country get it. I think an awful lot of people in the media dont. That is because they sense his heart. They sense his passion for this country. When he talks about putting america first, they sense of a patriotism that radiates out of him. It is like i said at the convention. You look at the family of his. The devotion to his family and his devotion of his family to him. I like wh