Below is the full transcript of an interview with former Vice President Mike Pence that aired on Face the Nation on April 23, 2023.

MARGARET BRENNAN: The issue of abortion is likely to play a role in the 2024 election. Yesterday, our Robert Costa went to Iowa and spoke with one of the potential Republican candidates, former Vice President Mike Pence, and asked him about the court’s decision.

PART ONE: ABORTION

MIKE PENCE: You know, I’m pro-life. I don’t apologize for this. I think the fact that the Biden administration allowed mail-order mifepristone was a fundamental change. Even in states where abortion is restricted. I would like this medicine to be taken off the market to protect the unborn. But I’m also — I’m deeply concerned about how the FDA approved mifepristone 20 years ago. I am grateful that action is being taken in the courts to hold the FDA accountable for what the law requires in reviewing any drug that is made on the market. So for the sake of protecting the unborn, and for the health and safety of women, I – I’m looking forward to this – continue this lawsuit and hold the manufacturers of mifepristone accountable. And ultimately, put the interests of women first.

ROBERT COSTA: The FDA disputes claims that it’s unsafe, saying serious complications are rare and less than 1 percent of patients need to be hospitalized. This is their position.

PENCE: Well, I understand that, Robert, but under the Obama administration, the FDA actually stopped chronicling the nonfatal results of mifepristone. And one of the things that I hope will change in this trial is that the FDA is going back to telling the American people about all the health implications. But I believe this issue is about women’s health and safety, and we need to hold the FDA accountable to the law.

ROBERT COSTA: This is a very, very relevant issue for the Republican Party right now. There is a real discussion going on. Anti-abortion activist Marjorie Dannenfelser said that anyone who adheres to former President Trump’s position that states should decide what to do about abortion, she called this position morally indefensible. Do you agree?

PENCE: The cause of restoring the integrity of life at the center of American law is the calling of our times. The Supreme Court ruling in the Dobbs case last June gave the American people a fresh start in life. He brought the issue of abortion back to the states and the American people. But he didn’t just return it exclusively to the states. And in this I do not agree with the former president. This is not just a state decision. We have elected representatives to the United States Congress and will elect a President again in 2024. And I think the American people would welcome the minimum national standard in Washington, DC, 15 weeks.

ROBERT COSTA: Is former President Trump backing down on abortion?

PENCE: Well, I would… I would leave it to others.

ROBERT COSTA: What do you think?

PENCE: You can ask him…

ROBERT COSTA: Your top aide, Mark Short, has officially announced that former President Trump is resigning.

PENCE: Well…I…I…that’s…that’s a great question for him. I am very proud to have served as vice president in the administration that appointed three justices to the Supreme Court that ruled in Roe v. Get into the dustbin of history. But Robert, we are now in a new season, and I think that millions of pro-life Americans want us to take every opportunity to put the interests of the unborn first and also, equally, to demonstrate the generosity and compassion of the American people to women who have been forced to have abortions in the past 50 years, and to women who are having crisis pregnancies today.

PART TWO: WEAPONS AND POLITICS

ROBERT COSTA: There’s been an upsurge of gun violence in recent weeks, and sometimes legitimate gun owners shoot people who walk up to their door, in their driveway, in the parking lot. What is happening in America and can anything be done to reduce the fear and violence?

MIKE PENCE: Well, our… our hearts go out to the families of the victims of the incidents in Kansas City and upstate New York. I just can’t imagine the pain they go through in this tragedy, but tragedy shouldn’t require us to lose our freedom. And the right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms is enshrined in the US Constitution. I do not know the facts of these cases, I am sure that local law enforcement will move forward and apply the law properly. But I cannot help suspecting that this recent wave of tragedies is indicative of the fear many Americans feel about the wave of crime that is sweeping this country.

ROBERT COSTA: But I think most people would agree that even if you’re afraid of crime in your area, there’s no excuse for just shooting someone at your door or in the parking lot.

PENCE: I can’t imagine the circumstances I read about in the press on any of these occasions. And… and I… I’m sure local law enforcement will hold people to account. I… but I… but at the end of the day, I… I’m just wondering… wondering if this is a reflection of the fear the American people feel about the wave of crime that has swept our country literally from the coast. to the coast.

ROBERT COSTA: You agreed to appear before the special prosecutor…

PENS: Yes.

ROBERT COSTA: An ongoing grand jury investigation on January 6th with some restrictions on your testimony. Did you negotiate with the special counsel about your appearance?

PENCE: Well, our… our lawyers settled it with the Justice Department. But I must say that I am grateful to the court that the court has recognized that there are special constitutional protections unique to the vice president when you are in your role as chairman of the Senate. I thought it was important to challenge, for the first time in history, a federal court has recognized that this provision of the Constitution applies to the vice president, and they have limited what they will require of me, but much more than what I can say–

ROBERT COSTA: Help us understand this a little…

PENCE: –you Robert, we… we will obey the law, we will tell the truth and the story that I have told the American people across the country, the story that I have written in the pages of my memoirs, that will be what I will tell and in this setting.

ROBERT COSTA: But for a layman who is not a lawyer, what do you think are the limits to your forthcoming testimony? Can you, for example, testify, in your opinion, about your private conversations with President Trump. Is that within the scope of what you could do in front of a grand jury?

PENCE: I think I’m limited in what I can say about the grand jury or the judge’s decision, but people can be sure that we will — we will obey the law, we will obey the law. But I have to tell you, Robert, no one has spoken to me about this.

ROBERT COSTA: Fox News just paid Dominion $787 million for false claims that were online. Any reaction?

PENCE: Well, I … I would guess that in this case, Fox News determined what the settlement was appropriate and what the exposure was. I can’t… I can’t talk about it. It wasn’t a period in my life where I watched a lot of TV, Robert, I was focused on the task at hand, focused on doing our duty under the United States Constitution. The role that you, your network and other members of the media play is vital to our democracy. And I will always stand for a free and independent press, even if I don’t agree with what you say or do.

ROBERT COSTA: It’s almost May, when will you decide whether you will run as a Republican?

PENCE: Well, we’re very close. But I don’t have anything to announce today, Robert, but I… promise…

ROBERT COSTA: Will you make a difficult decision by the end of June?

PENCE: I think anyone who is serious about the Republican nomination should be in this contest by June, and…

ROBERT COSTA: So you will make a decision by the end of June?

PENCE: I… I think if… if we make an announcement, it will be long before the end of June.

ROBERT COSTA: Long before that. But do you lean or dodge your run?

PENCE: Robert, I’m here in Iowa.

ROBERT COSTA: That’s a hint.

PENCE: Look, I love this country. And I think America has a lot of problems. And I hear people tell me that the problems we face in an increasingly dangerous world, the problems we face in this economy with inflation at a 40-year high, a crisis on our border, will need someone who can intervene on the first day and return our country to the path of security and prosperity. And so we think very deeply about it. And as I said, I

(CROSS OBSERVATIONS)

ROBERT COSTA: Looks like you’re leaning.

PENCE: I don’t have anything to announce today, but…

ROBERT COSTA: You seem to be leaning towards that. Lean towards it, not away from it.

PENCE: I… I would tell you that I’m very flattered by the support we’re getting. And I promise you, when we have something to announce, you’ll be among the first to know.

KATHERINE KENDALL, actress/photographer:

Well, you know, I was a young actress and I had a formal meeting at the Miramax office earlier that day.

And then, at the end of the meeting, which I thought went really well, he invited me to come to the screenings. He said, “Welcome to the Miramax family. You know, come to premieres, shows and so on. In fact, there is one this afternoon. Would you like to come?”

And I said, “Of course.”

And in the end I went to watch a movie with him. The result was just a film, not a screening, but the film “Red Rock in the West.” And, you know, it was right when I had such a nagging feeling that something was going wrong.

And then, after the movie, we walked a few blocks. And he said that he needed to go up to his apartment to get some things and could I just go with him real quick? And I kind of said no, and we talked it back and forth for a minute. There were always some negotiations with him, I tried to defend my position, and then make sure that everything was in order.

I went to his apartment. Once there, we had a long talk about art and cinema. And it seemed to me that he treated me like an intellect.

And I felt that the meeting was going very well, and sort of going on. I didn’t feel safe when I was there. And at some point he got up to go to the bathroom. And he came back in a bathrobe and asked me to give him a massage.

And I was extremely uncomfortable. And I thought, oh my God, no, I don’t like it. And we went back and forth about it.

And then he went to the bathroom again, and this time he came back completely naked. And you know, for me, that has completely changed as well. It just took him to the next location. It was completely disorienting. And I was scared, you know? I was very scared.

And then it became a bit of a cat and mouse game, like how do I get out of there?

And I – it’s hard to understand what someone is trying to do to you when they’re completely naked and they…

NEW DELHI — Indian police on Sunday arrested a separatist leader who has revived calls for an independent Sikh homeland and the secession of the northern Indian state of Punjab, which has a history of violent insurgency.

Amritpal Singh has been on the run since last month after attracting national attention in February when hundreds of his supporters stormed a police station in Ajnal, a Punjab city, with wooden clubs, swords and weapons, demanding the release of a jailed assistant. .

The Punjab State Police tweeted on Sunday that Singh had been arrested in Moga, a city in the state. He did not give details, but called on people to maintain peace and harmony.

Sikh religious leader Jasbir Singh Rodde said Singh turned himself in to police after praying in the morning at a Sikh temple in Moga. According to him, after that the police arrested him and took him away.

Punjab experienced a bloody uprising in the 1980s that led to the assassination of then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards at her official residence in New Delhi. Her assassination sparked bloody riots by her Hindu supporters against the Sikhs in northern India.

Police declared the 30-year-old preacher Singh a fugitive and accused him and his aides of fomenting discord in the state. The police accused him and his accomplices of inciting discord among people, attempted murder, assaulting police officers and obstructing the lawful performance of official duties by government employees.

Authorities sent thousands of paramilitaries to the state and arrested about 100 of its supporters. Last week, Singh’s wife was not allowed to leave India.

Very little was known about Singh until he arrived in the state of Punjab in 2022 and began holding marches calling for the protection of the rights of Sikhs, who make up about 1.7% of India’s population.

Singh claims to draw inspiration from Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a Sikh militant leader accused by the Indian government of leading an armed insurgency in Khalistan in the 1980s. Bhindranwale and his supporters were killed in 1984 when the Indian army stormed the Golden Temple, the shrine of the Sikh religion.

Singh identified himself as Bhindranwale with a long flowing beard. He also dresses like Bhindranwale.

Singh also leads Waris Punjab De, or “Heirs of the Punjab”, an organization that was part of a massive campaign to mobilize farmers against the controversial agricultural reforms being implemented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. The law sparked a year of protests that began in 2020 when farmers, most of them Punjab Sikhs, camped on the outskirts of New Delhi during a harsh winter and a devastating coronavirus surge. The protests ended after the Modi government withdrew the law in November 2021.

Waris Punjab De was founded by Deep Sidhu, an Indian actor who died in 2022 in a traffic accident.

Singh’s speeches are becoming increasingly popular among supporters of the Khalistan movement banned in India. Officials see him and groups associated with him as a threat to national security. Although the movement has waned over the years, it still has some support in Punjab and beyond, including in countries such as Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, where there is a significant Sikh diaspora.

Last month, supporters of the movement lowered the Indian flag outside the country’s High Commission in London and smashed the building’s windows in anger at Singh’s arrest. The Indian Foreign Ministry condemned the incident and summoned the British Deputy High Commissioner to New Delhi to protest the security breach at the embassy in London. Supporters of the Khalistan movement also desecrated the Indian consulate in San Francisco in the United States.