Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is considering a White House run next year, delivered a powerful one

on Wednesday called for continued US aid to Ukraine, saying the intervention is critical to national and global security.

He blamed President Biden for weakening the country’s standing on the world stage, but Pence’s approach to the conflict taking place in Eastern Europe is consistent with the Democratic administration’s foreign policy and puts him at odds with his two most prominent potential rivals in a GOP presidential nomination race. , including his old boss, former President Trump.

“Vladimir Putin is responsible for the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin and Russia must be held accountable,” Pence told more than 200 people over lunch in a replica of the East Room of the White House in the Richard Nixon Library & Museum in Yorba. linda

“The war in Ukraine is not our war, but freedom is our fight,” Pence said. “And I believe that we must continue to give the Ukrainian army the means to repel the Russian invasion and reclaim their sovereignty. It is in the interest of their and our freedom. We must make it clear that we will not tolerate open aggression. “

Trump, who has announced a 2024 campaign to regain the White House, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to launch a presidential bid, has both argued that US involvement in Ukraine is not in the country’s best interests and criticized the amount of aid the United States has provided. After criticism from Republicans, DeSantis reversed his rejection of the Russian invasion as a “territorial dispute” in late March.

Pence didn’t mention the two men’s positions on the

ongoing

conflict, but the issue is likely to feature prominently in the 2024 elections.

The former Indiana governor is the latest Republican to consider a 2024 presidential bid to visit California in recent weeks. His full schedule is not known, but Pence and his wife were spotted Saturday on a commercial flight landing in Fresno, according to Central Valley television stations.

In addition to speaking at the Nixon Library, where members of the public paid $135 each to attend the luncheon address and receive an autographed copy of Pence’s memoir, he also spoke at a New Majority gathering of about 150 GOP business leaders and donors on Monday night in Newport Beach, as well as at a fundraiser the following night at an Anaheim Hills estate in support of college conservatives running for student government on California campuses.

Other GOP candidates running for president or considering a White House bid who have recently visited California include DeSantis, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and former governor of Arkansas. Asa Hutchinson.

Given the large number of wealthy supporters of both parties who live here, candidates have long swept into the state to raise money and bring influential Republicans to justice.

But California may play a bigger role in next year’s presidential race because the 2024 primaries take place relatively early in March. Since it has the largest number of delegates of any state in the nation, California’s Republican voters could have a substantial say in determining their party’s nominee.

In early GOP voter polls, Pence trailed well behind double-digit support for DeSantis and Trump. In February, Pence had the 3% support; six months earlier he had consumed more than twice that amount

investigate by

Poll from UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies, co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times.

Of all the Republicans considering a run against Trump, Pence is uniquely placed for his complicated relationship with his former running mate, which preceded their election in 2016.

While Pence supported Trump’s support among evangelical and other socially conservative voters in that campaign, he also struggled with Trump’s behavior, particularly after the Access Hollywood shooting of the real estate mogul turned reality TV star and crude statements about women did, shortly before the elections came up.

Their relationship was tumultuous and came to a head when Trump tried to pressure Pence to contest the certification of the 2020 election results

that Biden won the presidential election

. Pence, who was acting as Senate President, refused and was subsequently targeted by U.S. Capitol insurgents on January 6 who called for the then-Vice President’s hanging.

“His reckless words endangered my family and everyone in the Capitol that day,” Pence said in a March speech. “I know that history will hold Donald Trump accountable.”

Trump did nothing publicly to try to protect the vice president or his family from bodily harm, the nadir of their relationship. In the months since, Pence has wavered between defending his former running mate, speaking out against Trump’s actions, and opposing the former president by proxy in intraparty races.

This has led to challenges with some grassroots Republicans, such as being booed on Friday when he took the stage at a National Rifle Assn. Convention in his home state.

Pence did not mention these issues Wednesday at the Nixon library, where he was speaking at a conference on energy policy.

Instead, he denounced Democratic efforts to fight climate change and praised the Trump administration’s energy policies, such as

like it

withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement

which was signed during the Obama administration

the approval of the Keystone Pipeline and the opening of part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

“We recognize the truth that America has a virtually limitless supply of energy under our feet. We recognize that those resources do not belong to the government, but to the American people,” Pence said. “We knew that if we unleashed American energy, we would create millions of high-paying jobs, reclaim American sovereignty over our God-given resources, recover our economic strength from foreign suppliers, and strengthen our position as the leader of the free world. And that’s exactly what we did.”