Pence: 'I'm so proud' of Trump's Mexico visit

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence offered a rave review Wednesday over Donald Trump's decision to accept the invitation of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, declaring it "really the beginning ... of a conversation" between the two countries.

"Negotiations will follow this. But it all proceeds out of a relationship," the vice-presidential nominee told CNN's "New Day." "And to know Donald Trump is to know not your standard-issue politician, but really a business leader that knows, you've first got to sit down with people. You've got to look them in the eye, you've got to tell them where you stand. They can express their positions. That's where real negotiations can begin."


Trump will not wobble from his positions and proposals on Mexico ahead of his immigration speech later Wednesday night in Phoenix, Pence said, including his "priority of securing the border, building a wall, making it clear that we're going to have a new administration that deals with and confronts not only illegal immigration but the flood of drugs and the heartbreak of human trafficking that's coming across our borders."

"I just have to tell you, I'm so proud of Donald Trump's decision to head to Mexico. I think the American people are seeing today the kind of decisive leader that he will be as president," Pence said later on "CBS This Morning." "He gets an invitation late last week to meet with our neighbor to the south and even in the midst of a day when he is in Washington state, big speech last night, important, if not historic speech tonight on illegal immigration, he's headed down to Mexico, and I think it’s emblematic of the kind of president and the kind of leadership that he’ll continue to provide."

Pence compared Trump's travel to Mexico City to Hillary Clinton's itinerary for the day. The former secretary of state was slated to address the American Legion's national conference in Ohio later in the afternoon.

"I don't know where Hillary Clinton is. I heard she's going to Cincinnati today," Pence said on CNN. "But I think the American people can see quite a contrast between Donald Trump, who gets an invitation from a world leader, drops what he's doing even with a major speech on the schedule for tonight and heads down to Mexico to sit down with the president of that country to begin a conversation about how we move the interests of the American people forward and how we work with our neighbors in a more constructive and effective way."