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Pence’s Family Defends Religious Liberty, Pushes Back Against Buttigieg Criticism

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Mike Brest Reporter
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Second lady Karen Pence and her daughter, Charlotte, defended Vice President Mike Pence during a Tuesday interview with Martha MacCallum, after he received criticism from South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

Buttigieg and Pence have had a political relationship for years, dating back to their time in Indiana politics. When Buttigieg came out as gay in 2015, Pence supported him, saying, “I hold Mayor Buttigieg in the highest personal regard. I see him as a dedicated public servant and a patriot.” (RELATED: Stop Calling Mike Pence Homophobic)

Despite that, Buttigieg has attacked Pence in recent interviews for his views on marriage.

Karen and Charlotte Pence were on “The Story” to talk about Buttigieg’s attacks, as well as to promote their new children’s book.

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“It’s interesting because this is one of the reasons that we wrote the book, because I think that this young generation may not know the liberties and freedoms that are protected in the United States—and one of them is religious liberty, the freedom of religion,” Karen began. “So, I think anyone in the country can believe, you know, really anything that they want to believe. You can have whatever faith that you want to follow.”

Charlotte Pence added, “Right. I actually wrote in the book before this was, you know, religious liberty was a hot topic at all. Which is kind of funny. We turned this in a long time ago. You know, I think it is important for kids to learn at a young age that religious liberty means you can believed in God or you cannot believe in God and you don’t have to be afraid to hold that belief.”

MacCallum then read a Tuesday tweet from Buttigieg, in which he responded to the outcry in support of Pence.

“Yeah, you know, the thing is—and we talk about this actually in this bunny book, funny enough—that, you know, you can have differing opinions from people and that’s actually a good thing,” Charlotte continued, adding:

And…my parents really taught us from a young age that when people are speaking out against elected officials, when they disagree with them, that actually is a good thing. That means that the system is working. That is how America is supposed to look. My dad always says that’s what freedom looks like when he sees protesters because that’s an essential part of our democracy, as well. Which you can learn about all again in this book.

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