Vice President Pence gives his take on Trump's warning of violence if Democrats take control of Congress

Maureen Groppe | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Trump: Evangelicals support Israeli Embassy move more than 'the Jews' President Trump says evangelical Christians thank him more for moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem than Jewish people.

WASHINGTON – Weighing in on President Donald Trump's warning that there will be violence by his opponents if Democrats win control of Congress this fall, Vice President Mike Pence said he took the president to mean that Democrats want to undo everything Trump has done.

"But the president’s point as I took it, from where I was seated, was that the Democrat party in Congress is absolutely committed to reversing everything that we’ve been able to do for the American people," Pence told the Christian Broadcasting Network in an interview excerpt that aired Thursday.

On Monday, Trump and Pence feted dozens of Christian pastors, ministers and other supporters from the evangelical community at a White House dinner.

Trump warned that Democrats “will overturn everything that we’ve done and they’ll do it quickly and violently,” according to an audiotape of his remarks provided to The New York Times by someone who attended the event.

Asked by reporters Wednesday what he meant by the comments, Trump said, "I just hope there won't be violence."

"There's a lot of unnecessary violence all over the world, but also in this country, and I don't want to see it," he said.

In his remarks to evangelicals, Trump mentioned antifa, the name for loosely affiliated, left-leaning anti-racist groups that monitor and track the activities of local neo-Nazis.

"When you look at antifa, and you look at some of these groups, these are violent people," Trump said, according to the Times.

Asked by CBN News why Trump mentioned antifa, Pence said: "Obviously we condemn any examples of violence on the streets of this country, zero tolerance for any violence against Americans."

Pence said the reason why evangelical leaders were invited to the dinner was to make sure that the American people know that Democrats want to reverse Trump's agenda, including his appointment of "strong conservatives" to the federal courts.

"That’s the choice we face," he said. "That’s what I took the president to say."

Trump's 2016 victory was boosted by white evangelicals, 81 percent of whom voted for him. That’s a greater share than the support garnered by George W. Bush in 2004, John McCain in 2008 or Mitt Romney in 2012.

And evangelical leaders say Trump has delivered on promises to promote "religious freedoms," restrict abortions, appoint conservative judges and recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

More: First year of Trump-Pence brings bountiful blessings, religious conservatives say

More: Mike Pence, 'Christian supremacist': 6 key takeaways from a new book