Pence Hits Back at Behar, ABC After Insult to His Faith

Vice President Mike Pence, in an interview airing Monday, hit back at "The View" co-host Joy Behar for suggesting he has a mental illness because of his deep belief in God.

"Those of us in public life are pretty accustomed to criticism," Pence told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" co-host Ainsley Earhardt, who interviewed Pence while he was visiting the Dallas area late last week. "But when I heard that ABC had a program that likened my Christianity to mental illness, I just couldn't be silent."

On the program, after playing a comment former Trump administration aide Omarosa Mangault Newman made on the "Big Brother" reality show about Pence, the entire panel on "The View" mocked Trump's faith, but Behar was the one to suggest mental illness because Pence has said God speaks to him.

"My Christian faith is probably the most important thing in my life," Pence told Earhardt. "I do try and start every day reading the bible. My wife and I try and have a prayer together before I leave the house every morning. But I do think I'm a very typical American."

People of all different faiths and traditions have "cherished their faith in God," he added, "and for ABC to have a forum that spoke in such demeaning terms, I think it's evidence of how out of touch some in the mainstream media are with the faith and values of the American people."

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