ORLANDO, Fla. – Before President Donald Trump took the stage at the Amway Center in Orlando to announce his re-election bid for the 2020 general election, News 6 anchor Matt Austin interviewed Vice President Mike Pence to ask why Central Florida is so important in the 2020 election.
Matt: Vice President Mike Pence, thanks for joining us.
VP: It's great to to be in Orlando.
Matt: I want to talk about you being in Orlando. You could have picked anywhere. Is this proof that the I-4 corridor is the most important place in a presidential election?
VP: Well, Florida always looms large in presidential elections we're proud of the support we had in Florida in 2016. And frankly the president and I are proud of all the support we're receiving all across the state of Florida. I think he wanted to launch this campaign here and we're going to take this campaign to keep America great all across this country-- but everything starts here in Orlando.
Matt: Whoever wins in 2020, could they win without Orlando and the Central Florida corridor?
VP: I'll tell ya what, we just know our message is going to sell all across Florida in 2020 just like we did in 2016 because it's a message that -- we build our military, our military is so strong and such a presence here in the Sunshine State. He's a president that's put jobs and the economy first. We cut back taxes, we rolled back regulations, unleashed American energy now the economy is booming 5.6 million new jobs and conservatives on our courts at every level including two Supreme Court justices. That's a message that is selling here. It's promises made, promises kept -- and we're going to take that all over the country.
Matt: I wanna ask you about elections in Florida. The Mueller report came out and said Russia was able to infiltrate two counties, what are you guys doing to make sure elections here in Florida and everywhere are secure?
VP: Well from early in this administration, our Department of Homeland Security is taken a hold of government approach to ensure elections security. We've been part of discussions across the government. We had a good midterm election, concerned about what occurred in a few counties here in Florida. But the American people can be confident local officials working very closely with the FBI monitored carefully in the midterms and we're redoubling up those efforts now for the important presidential election year.
Matt: I wanted to ask you about President Trump's tweet last night, it sent shock waves for a lot of people about illegal immigrants being sent out as quickly as they came in. Can you tell me about how that might work?
VP: Well President Trump and I both took an oath to uphold the Constitution faithfully, execute the laws of this land. Whether it be securing our border or making sure that those who enforce our immigration laws across the country have the resources and support they need to do their job is a priority for this president. Look, we have a crisis of illegal immigration in this country and the president made that a national issue when he announced his campaign four years ago. We've made great progress. We've made historic investments in border security. And just recently, because of the president's leadership, Mexico has agreed to do more to assist us in securing our border: taking asylum applicants, allowing them to remain in Mexico while they're processed and sending 6,000 troops to their southern border. I mean the reality is, because of the president's leadership Mexico has done more in the last 10 days to help secure our border than Democrats in Congress have done in the last 10 years. The American people can be confident that we're going to continue to enforce our laws, continue to focus on border security, and as the president is laying out in the days ahead, we're also going to fix this broken immigration system once and for all.
Matt: I think people are wondering if it's going to be women and children, is it going to be people who have committed crimes?
VP: The president has always been very clear that the focus of our administration always begins with people who represent a danger to our communities. Individuals who have violated the law and who are also in this country illegally. We are very confident that our (ICE) officials will continue to do their job that they're doing every single day enforcing our laws -- but putting the safety and security of our families and our communities first.
Matt: I want to ask you about health care, one of president trump's biggest campaign promises was repeal and replace obamacare. Floridians, we just made a decision maybe a wekk ago to get meds from Canada for cheaper medication. When is the President going to be able to come through on that promise?
VP: We're working as we speak on a healthcare plan and you remember we came close in the Congress. The repealing and replacing Obamacare and broadening the choices of the American people. But the good news is we did repeal the mandate so people no longer have to pay a tax in exchange for not getting benefits, health insurance. We've opened the ways through executive action, for more small businesses to have affordable health insurance. But this is a president that's absolutely determined to lower the cost of health insurance without growing the size of government. The plan that we'll unveil in the days ahead will be designed to do that. It'll be quite a contrast to what Democrats were talking about. It's interesting that many Democrats aren't talking about Obamacare anymore. They're talking about Medicare fraud, socialized medicine. We know that's not the answer. The answer is to lower the cost of medicine and health insurance to give the American people more choices. Also, the president is also focused at lowering the cost of prescription medicine drugs. Which actually declined their prices in the first time in many years because of actions this president has taken. We're going to continue to work on lowering the cost of prescription drugs in the days ahead.
Matt: Space force in Florida? Is it happening? Do we know where it's going to be based out of?
VP: We'll keep you posted. We're working on it in the Congress right now to launch a new sixth branch of our armed forces. The United States space force will soon be a reality. Now where the space force or space command is located, will be decisions for the president. Now make no mistake about it, Florida will always play an enormously important role in American leadership in space.