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SALT LAKE CITY Former Vice President Mike Pence told several Utah lawmakers and business leaders he believes the Biden administration has weakened America at home and abroad, but hinted that change is coming.

He repeatedly took aim at President Joe Biden during a luncheon in the Zions Bank Head Office in Salt Lake City Friday afternoon, blaming the president for crime, illegal immigration, energy prices and the chaotic removal of troops from Afghanistan.

Im here to tell you, hope is on the way, he said. I truly believe we are 18 months away from a great American comeback, and it will start right here.

Pence, Donald Trumps two-time running mate and vice president, has long been rumored as a potential challenger to his former boss in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. Although Pence has yet to announce a formal campaign, he is reportedly planning to launch a political action committee to back his candidacy, according toPolitico.

Projecting a difference in tone and style to the former president, Pence called for a return to civility and respect in political discourse in the country.

I believe theres a hunger in this country to restore civility to the public debate, he said. Our politics is more divided today than any time in my lifetime, (but) Im not convinced the American people are as divided.

The closed-door roundtable was hosted by the Utah Valley University Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy. Former Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and philanthropist Scott Keller, whose name adorns the Scott C. Keller business building at UVU, joined Pence for a luncheon that was open to the media.

Pence is the second potential 2024 candidate to visit Utah in as many weeks, after FloridaGov. Ron DeSantis addressed delegatesat Utahs Republican Party convention Saturday at UVU.

Pences visit to Utah comes a day after hetestified before a grand juryin Washington, D.C., that is investigating Trumps role in efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Trump supporters had pressured Pence during theJan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrectionto reject electoral votes cast for then-President-elect Joe Biden, though legal experts and Pence himself have said the vice president doesnt have that power.

Since then, Pence has had a complicated relationship with the former president and his supporters, and has emerged as a potential challenger to Trump. Last month, Pence said Trumps reckless words endangered my familyand everyone at the Capitol that day, and I know that history will hold Donald Trump accountable.

This story will be updated.

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'Hope is on the way': Mike Pence tells Utahns an 'American ... - KSLTV