According to Fox News, former President Donald Trump has released a statement referring to former Vice President Mike Pence as "an honorable man." 

"Mike Pence is an honorable man," Trump told Fox.

That was unexpected

There are a number of reasons why Trump referring to Pence as "an honorable man" is surprising.

For one, Pence, in many ways, has tried to distance himself from Trump since the two left the White House back in January 2021. It appears that Pence might even be trying to position himself for a run in 2024 at the U.S. presidency - although this remains to be seen.

This alone would give Trump a good reason to not refer to Pence as "an honorable man."

But, on top of this, Trump has repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction with Pence's handling of the 2020 presidential election - specifically with the fact that Pence refused to challenge the results of the election on Jan. 6, 2021 - the day that those results were certified by Congress.

So, with these two threads in mind, it's quite a surprise to hear Trump referring to Pence as "an honorable man." But, he just did.

Context

Trump referred to Pence as "an honorable man" after it was revealed that Pence has been subpoenaed by Special Counsel Jack Smith.

Smith is the man whom U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has chosen to lead a special counsel investigation of Trump. This investigation will focus on a number of areas, including the Capitol protest of Jan. 6, 2021, and the classified documents case, which resulted in the unprecedented raid on Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.

It is not exactly clear what Smith is hoping to get from Pence. But, clearly, Trump believes that Smith won't get anything from Pence because Pence is "an honorable man."

Time will tell if this is indeed the case.

"Get the riggers"

Meanwhile, Trump posted a statement on his social media site, Truth Social, indicating what he believes Smith ought to really be investigating.

Trump wrote:

Will Trump Hating Prosecutor Jack Smith be investigating the FACT that they SPIED on my campaign, even as I was in the Oval Office, they Stuffed the Ballot Boxes (per 2000 Mules), used Covid to cheat, that the FBI pushed Twitter & Facebook around, causing massive voter disruption, and so much more? That’s really what he should be looking at, not asking a very decent Mike Pence why he didn’t send the votes back to State Legislatures for scrutinization, which he could have done. Get the RIGGERS!

Trump has made it clear that he, himself, will not be participating in Smith's special counsel investigation.