Vice President Mike Pence speaks during an event at RiverStone Health Lil Anderson Center in Billings, Mont. Wednesday, June 12, 2019. (Casey Page/Billings Gazette via AP)

Vice President Mike Pence speaks during an event at RiverStone Health Lil Anderson Center in Billings, Mont. Wednesday, June 12, 2019. (Casey Page/Billings Gazette via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says Vice President Mike Pence doesn’t automatically have his backing should he mount his own run for the White House in 2024.

Asked on Friday in an interview with Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” whether he would lend his endorsement to Pence in advance, Trump said, “You can’t put me in that position.”

Trump says that he’d have to evaluate the field of Republicans in five years but that he would give a potential Pence candidacy “strong consideration.”

Pence has not explicitly said he’d seek the White House in 2024, though it is widely expected.