Pence's 11-year-old questioner: 'I wasn't trying to be hostile'

The 11-year-old boy who pointedly asked Mike Pence on Thursday whether "softening up on" Donald Trump's words and policies would be his job in the White House said Friday that he did not mean to impugn the Indiana governor's motives.

"Well, I mean, I wasn't trying to be hostile or trying to accuse him of anything. I was just -- I'm full-on with the Trump campaign," Matthew Schricker said in a joint appearance on CNN's "New Day." "I think that I just wanted to see if he was -- if he was just -- if Mr. Trump was approving of it, and I think that has been -- I think that's what he's doing and it he balances the ticket out a little bit, and I think that's very good for the Trump campaign."


The boy's mother, Mary Schricker, said she approved of her son's question at the town hall event in Raleigh, North Carolina.

"Honestly I wasn't certain the reception it was gonna get. I had a feeling it could be potentially perceived as a defensive question. But Gov. Pence took it all in stride, and I thought he gave an excellent answer," she said. "And I'm very proud of him, as we are all of all three children."

As far Trump's occasionally profane language, a criticism the Clinton campaign and its surrogates have emphasized, the 11-year-old Trump supporter did not seem to mind, echoing the GOP nominee himself.

"I really think that listening to a few bad words coming out of Donald Trump is a lot better than people getting blown up by terrorists, people getting burned alive, people [getting their] heads chopped off and people getting drowned," he said.