Donald Trump, Mike Pence hold first joint news conference in NYC

“We need a strong, resolute and unequivocal voice for freedom … and we haven’t had it for eight years”, said Christie, adding, “If you are not working for Donald Trump, you’re working for (presumptive Democratic nominee) Hillary Clinton”.

“But she’s not?” CBS interviewer Lesley Stahl pressed.

WHITE House hopeful Donald Trump has said the man who will join him on the Republican presidential ticket is a “man of character, honour and honesty”.

Trump praised Pence’s record as governor of IN, saying he will help push to create manufacturing jobs – a key domestic platform IN Trump’s campaign.

Trump claimed the USA under his administration would get rid of ISIS, big league. “A lot of information was given to people”, Trump said. “They want a leader, they want leadership in Washington, D.C., that will solve problems and strengthen our country”, he said.

The interview came just ahead of the Republican National Convention, which is due to kick off in Cleveland later today.

The Trump campaign says that the two candidates will appear together Saturday morning at the same Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan that was scheduled for a Friday announcement that was postponed because of the terrorist attack in Nice, France. In what several critics are bashing as yet another “pompous display of narcissism”, Trump spoke at length about rival Hillary Clinton, terrorism, his own primary wins and of defeating a “Stop Trump” movement. The two shook hands afterward and posed for pictures with supporters.

Stahl tried to interject, but Trump continued to talk. He predicted that Pence would have won re-election as governor, were he not running for vice president. “Donald Trump is a great man and he will make a great president”.

Pence, who describes himself as “a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order”, is regarded as a safe choice within conservative circles, able to pick up support among moderate Republicans and evangelical Christians.

He bragged that they had been “crushed”. He needs someone with him who has governed, who knows how to govern, Christie said.

Clinton’s team was already painting Pence’s conservative social viewpoints as out of step with the mainstream.

Christie also drew sharp objections from Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner.