- Mark Leibovich told Insider that Pence's identity was molded by Trump during their White House years.
- "His identity was completely given over subservience to Donald Trump until the bitter end," he said.
- As Pence flirts with a 2024 presidential campaign, he may end up running against his old boss.
Mark Leibovich told Insider in an interview that Vice President Mike Pence's political identity was "given over to subservience" of President Donald Trump through the tumultuous end of their administration, when Pence declined to overturn now-President Joe Biden's 2020 electoral victory.
Leibovich, a staff writer at The Atlantic and author of the forthcoming book, "Thank You for Your Servitude: Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission," spoke of Pence's potential 2024 presidential campaign — which could resemble the approach he took when his old boss first ran for the White House in 2016.
"The easiest path for a Mike Pence presidential bid would be to completely bow down to Donald Trump, which is what he did in 2016," Leibovich said.
He continued: "At this point, he was unsure if he would be reelected as governor of Indiana. He was having some real issues there. Not terribly popular. He sort of held his nose, I guess, for a guy he had no affinity for and probably deep personal disgust for."
After Trump tapped Pence to be his vice presidential running mate — making a bet that choosing the former congressman with deep ties to conservatives would assuage on-the-fence Republican voters to support the ticket — Leibovich said that the vice president's time in office was largely defined by his fealty to the commander-in-chief.
However, the relationship between the two men hit a major bump after Trump's intense and unsuccessful pressure campaign for Pence to reject the Electoral College certification of Biden's win — which the then-vice president refused to abide by.
"His identity was completely given over subservience to Donald Trump until the bitter end," Leibovich said.
"And the one exception was the bitter end, and that became the defining thing of all. It almost got him hung. If you can come back from that, and still convince many of the people who wanted to hang you to look to you to be their nominee, more power to you," he added.
On January 6, 2021, some of the rioters at the US Capitol, upset by Trump's loss in the presidential election, chanted "Hang Mike Pence."
Last month, Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to ex-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, testified before the House January 6 committee about talks that were held between Trump and some of his top advisors on the day of the riot and in the days leading up to the siege.
"I remember Pat saying something to the effect of, 'Mark, we need to do something more, they're literally calling for the vice president to be f---ing hung,'" she said at the time, referring to then-White House counsel Pat Cipollone.
"And Mark had responded something to the effect of, 'You heard it, Pat, he thinks Mike deserves it, he doesn't think they're doing anything wrong,'" she recalled.
Since leaving Washington, DC, last year, Pence has traveled the country, giving speeches to Republican-friendly audiences and touting the work of the GOP administration. He also continues to float a potential 2024 presidential bid which could pit him against Trump in the GOP primary.