WASHINGTON — Mike Pence is getting a one-day head start on rallying the Republican base in Washington before his former boss, Donald Trump, returns to the U.S. capital for the first time since the violent end to his presidency.
The timing of the speeches — Pence on Monday, Trump on Tuesday — is shaping up as a contest between the two men. Both have increasingly hinted at 2024 White House runs, potentially setting them on a collision course on the primary trail and in debates.
They’re taking the stage at separate venues just days after the latest U.S. House committee hearing on the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, which portrayed Trump as watching the insurrection on television as a mob of his supporters searched for Pence, chanting death threats.
