Report that Pence eyeing 2020 run 'complete fiction': Trump counselor
Conway said Pence "is getting ready for 2020: for reelection as vice president."
— -- Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway dismissed reports that Vice President Mike Pence is eyeing a 2020 presidential run.
"It is absolutely true the vice president is getting ready for 2020 -- for reelection as vice president," Conway told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos in an interview on "This Week" Sunday.
A New York Times report Saturday said that just six months into Trump's first term Republican shadow campaigns for the 2020 presidential election are already taking shape, including by Pence.
"That is complete fiction. That is complete fabrication," Conway responded. "Vice President Pence is a very loyal, very dutiful, but also incredibly effective vice president."
Conway said she has "zero concern" about any possibility of Pence running for president in the next cycle, noting that the vice president and his team have pushed back strongly on the report.
The presidential counselor added that Pence plays an important role in the Trump White House, saying, "He is a peer to the president in the West Wing."
Trump plans to be in the White House for seven and a half more years, Conway added, saying, "He plans on being a two-term president."
Conway also addressed new poll numbers out this week, showing President Trump's approval rating sinking to new lows, with support among his base also taking a dip.
She acknowledged that "his approval rating among Republicans and conservative and Trump voters is down slightly."
But she said the message from Trump's supporters is for the president to push ahead on his agenda.
"They are telling him, 'Just enact your program. Don't worry about a Congress that isn't supporting legislation to get big-ticket items done ... Focus on the agenda.'"
Stephanopoulos asked Conway if the president would commit to not firing special counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the FBI investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election and possible ties to Trump associates.
"Will he commit to not fire him?" Stephanopoulos pressed.
"I'm not the president's lawyer here, but I will tell you as his counselor, he is not discussing that. You have to listen to his special counsel, Ty Cobb, who works in the White House now, and [who] has said very clearly, George, this week that we will continue to cooperate with Bob Mueller and his investigation," said Conway.