Karen Pence commented on Friday’s public split of her husband, former Vice President Mike Pence, from former President Donald Trump and said she hopes they can reunite on the debate stage.
The former second lady spent Thursday afternoon and Friday at the Iowa State Fair meeting potential caucus attendees as the former vice president aims for the White House.
After spending Friday morning shaking hands and flipping pork chops, Ms Pence spoke to while touring a large bee and honey display in the fair’s John Deere Agriculture Building.
“It was just a disagreement, they went their separate ways,” she replied when asked if Trump and Pence’s split had been harmful. “We look forward to hopefully seeing him on the debate stage and look forward to the debate,” she said of Trump.
“I hope he comes,” she said in comments that might have been a little stinging.
Former second lady Karen Pence holds up a container of honey cream she bought at the Iowa State Fair on Friday
Karen Pence (left) spins pork chops at the Iowa Pork Producers exhibit along with former Vice President Mike Pence (right) at Friday’s Iowa State Fair
On Thursday’s Des Moines Register Political Soapbox and again on Gov. Kim Reynolds’ Fair Side chats, Karen Pence spoke about how she’d like to see some bunnies.
“I want to see the bees, I want to see the art show, and if you have bunnies, I might want to see the bunnies, too,” Karen Pence told Soapbox viewers Thursday.
“Okay, I’m not doing that,” the former vice president said, capturing a laugh.
The couple were known to have kept a pet rabbit, Marlon Bundo, when Mike Pence was in office.
Her daughter Charlotte has written a book about the rabbit.
This book was parodied by one of the writers of comedian John Oliver for his HBO show.
In this version, Marlon was gay and promoting a male rabbit named Wesley.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez (left), also running for President, takes a photo with Mike and Karen Pence at the Iowa State Fair
Karen Pence spent time at the Honey Producers Show in the John Deere Agriculture Building at the Iowa State Fair on Friday afternoon
Mike Pence is against same-sex marriage, citing his Christian faith.
Karen Pence was unlucky at Friday’s show as there were no rabbits shown that day.
When asked if she was disappointed, she told that she and Mike saw rabbits that morning.
“We took a walk along the river this morning and saw eight rabbits, so Mike said, ‘At least you saw rabbits in Iowa,’ so I did,” Karen Pence said.
The Pence family don’t currently have a bunny – but there could be another bundo in the future.
“I’d love to have one more bunny, but they take a lot — you have to be at home,” she said.
“Probably, yes, we would have a first rabbit,” she replied when asked if there was a promise from the Pence family at the White House to have another rabbit.
Unable to see rabbits, the former Second Lady ate honey products instead.
She explained that during the vice presidential years, the Pences had bees at the Indiana governor’s mansion and again at their Naval Observatory home.
“When I became second lady, the first thing I asked was if there was a beehive. The White House has a beehive. “So we brought a beehive to the vice president’s residence,” she said.
“That was just one of the things my staff and I did when we were traveling with the vice president or alone,” she continued. “We would always stop and visit the beekeepers in every country we’ve been to – it was fascinating how different the honey tasted.”
She said the mission is to promote “healthy bees.”
“We didn’t want to get into the whole scientific question of whether they’re endangered or not?” she said.
“So it was just one of my little initiatives and now every time I go somewhere I want to talk to them and they’re just doing a great job here,” she gushed.