TRUMP: Mike Pence has 'one hell of a good marriage'

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March 31, 2017 10:47 PM

President Donald Trump extolled the virtues of his vice president's marriage in the wake of a controversy over a comment Mike Pence made over a decade ago.

President Donald Trump speaks during a signing ceremony of executive orders on trade, accompanied by Vice President Mike Pence (C) and U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross (2nd R) at the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., March 31, 2017.

President Donald Trump extolled the virtues of his vice president's marriage on Friday in the wake of a controversy over a comment Mike Pence made over a decade ago about a rule he has for dining with women.

During an executive order signing ceremony, with Pence standing beside him at the podium, Trump said Pence had "one hell of a good marriage."

"Our vice president, I think I'm speaking for both but I'm not 100% sure," Trump said in an apparent reference to Pence and his wife, to which Pence replied, "Yes you are."

"I will tell you one thing, he has one hell of a good marriage going," Trump continued.

Trump made the comments about Pence's marriage in light criticism stemming from a Washington Post profile of his wife, Karen, that was published earlier this week. The controversy surrounded one sentence in the story: "In 2002, Mike Pence told the Hill that he never eats alone with a woman other than his wife and that he won't attend events featuring alcohol without her by his side, either."

Some critics called Pence's rule sexist because it could exclude women from certain professional opportunities. Others, however, have rallied behind Pence as an example of a man determined to preserve his marriage.

The Post profile detailed Pence's close relationship with his wife.

Watch video of the moment below:

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