Split ticket: Trump and Pence diverge in response to indictment

Former President Donald Trump’s first public remarks since he was hit with another indictment Thursday show he and his previous running mate, former Vice President Mike Pence, hold markedly different views of the charges, with the latter calling for the process to play out as the former rails against the institutions charging him.

Pence echoed familiar GOP talking points, castigating the Department of Justice for its "unprecedented" move and punctuating the fact that Trump "is entitled to a presumption of innocence." However, Pence stopped well short of a full-throated defense of the former president, telling a ballroom full of North Carolina Republicans that "no one is above the law."

"We also need to hear the former president’s defense," he said Saturday.

"Then," he added, "each of us can make our own judgement on whether this is the latest example of a Justice Department working an injustice, or otherwise."

The remarks were more measured than what Trump told supporters hours later in Columbus, Georgia.

"The ridiculous and baseless indictment of me by the Biden administration's weaponized department of injustice will go down as among the most horrific abuses of power in the History of our country," he said in his first public remarks since being handed a wide-ranging 37-count indictment from the special counsel's office on Thursday.

Trump supporters applauded his resolve, terming him a "fighter."

"Anybody else would just throw up their hands and walk away. But he didn’t. He stood in there and he fought He's a fighter. And that's what I love about him," Ed Harris, who said he is "no matter what. 100%” voting for Trump, told ABC News in Georgia.

Hours after addressing Georgia’s Republican convention, Trump again blasted the "thugs and freaks running this country."

"We did absolutely nothing wrong. ... It's a disgrace what's happening. And you know what this country is paying a big price. Should never be allowed to happen," he said at a local Waffle House.

Trump decried the indictment as a "political hit job" and argued that the country suffered from "two standards of justice" -- a point also made by Pence, who denounced "politicization" at the Justice Department.

"I promise you when I'm your president, we will end years of politicization at the Department of Justice and restore the confidence of the American people in equal treatment under the law," Pence said in Greensboro.

Special Counsel Jack Smith, who brought the charges, said the law applies to everyone.

“We have one set of laws in this country and they apply to everyone,” Smith told reporters after the indictment was unsealed.

The cracks between Pence and Trump have been deepening since Jan. 6, 2021. While Trump has suggested that he would look "favorably" at pardons for those convicted for their participation in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol if reelected to the White House, Pence holds a much grimmer view of the riot.

"Jan. 6 was a tragic day in the life of this nation. ... And it gives me no pleasure to say it, but on that fateful day, the American people deserve to know that President Trump demanded that I choose between him and the constitution. Well I chose the Constitution, and I always will," Pence said Saturday.

"President Trump was wrong then, and he’s wrong now. I had no right to overturn the election. And Kamala Harris will have no right to overturn the election when we beat them in 2024," he added.

Trump has been charged with 37 counts: 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information; one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice; one count of withholding a document or record; one count of corruptly concealing a document or record; one count of concealing a document in a federal investigation; one count of scheme to conceal; and one count of false statements and representations. Trump, who has repeatedly denied any allegations of wrongdoing, is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday and will appear before a judge in Miami. He will surrender to the authorities, be processed and then be taken before the judge.

Trump was previously arraigned in April after he was indicted on 34 counts of falsifying Business records by Manhattan prosecutors and is awaiting a trial that is expected to begin next year. He pleaded not guilty to those charges.

The former president holds a comfortable lead in the race for the 2024 Republican nomination, according to the most recent polling.

ABC News’ Isabella Murray contributed to this report.