--- title: Mike Pence Defends Donald Trump on 'Meet the Press' description: Gov. Mike Pence, the Republican vice presidential nominee, defended Donald Trump against the numerous sexual assault allegations canonical: https://time.com/4532635/mike-pence-donald-trump-meet-the-press/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-16T16:19:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T01:13:22.930Z article:section: Politics og:title: Mike Pence: 'We Will Absolutely Accept the Result of the Election' og:description: Mike Pence defended Donald Trump against sexual assault allegations og:url: https://time.com/4532635/mike-pence-donald-trump-meet-the-press/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt25347c75f93a548e/6988aa23bc6cfc53223def44/pence1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Mike Pence og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mike Pence: 'We Will Absolutely Accept the Result of the Election' twitter:description: Mike Pence defended Donald Trump against sexual assault allegations twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt25347c75f93a548e/6988aa23bc6cfc53223def44/pence1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mike Pence: 'We Will Absolutely Accept the Result of the Election' by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Oct 16, 2016 4:19 PM UTC  Republican vice presidential candidate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence speaks during a campaign rally in Newton, Iowa, on Oct. 11, 2016. Republican vice presidential candidate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence speaks during a campaign rally in Newton, Iowa, on Oct. 11, 2016.Charlie Neibergall—AP by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Oct 16, 2016 4:19 PM UTC After his running mate said the election would be “rigged,” Gov. Mike Pence, the Republican vice presidential nominee, said his ticket would accept the election’s results and defended Donald Trump against the numerous sexual assault allegations that [emerged over the last week](http://time.com/4530339/donald-trump-sexual-assault-media-hillary-clinton/). During an appearance on Sunday’s _Meet the Press_, Pence [told](http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/gov-mike-pence-full-interview-assault-accusations-are-unsubstantiated-786969155899) Chuck Todd that [media focus](http://time.com/4530339/donald-trump-sexual-assault-media-hillary-clinton/) on the claims against Trump is leading Americans to feel the election is rigged. “The national media is ignoring an avalanche of real hard corruption during the years of the Clinton administration,” Pence said, before citing a New York _Times_ [report](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/16/us/politics/wikileaks-bill-clinton-foundation.html?%5Fr=0) on ethical issues the Clinton Foundation faced. Pence said he would stand “shoulder to shoulder” with Trump until the election, again blaming the media for forcing daily attacks against the Republican presidential nominee. Despite backing Trump’s mounting claims that the election is rigged, Pence said he would accept the “will of the American people.” “We will absolutely accept the result of the election,” Pence said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4532635/mike-pence-donald-trump-meet-the-press/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4532635/mike-pence-donald-trump-meet-the-press/"},"headline":"Mike Pence: 'We Will Absolutely Accept the Result of the Election'","datePublished":"2016-10-16T16:19:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:13:22.930Z","description":"Pence said sexual assault allegations made against Donald Trump distract from more pressing issues","url":"https://time.com/4532635/mike-pence-donald-trump-meet-the-press/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt25347c75f93a548e/6988aa23bc6cfc53223def44/pence1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt25347c75f93a548e/6988aa23bc6cfc53223def44/pence1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Mike Pence","caption":"Mike Pence","creditText":"Charlie Neibergall—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4532635/mike-pence-donald-trump-meet-the-press/","name":"Mike Pence: 'We Will Absolutely Accept the Result of the Election'"}}]}] ```