- Marc Short, Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, was banned from the White House today after President Donald Trump criticized Pence for refusing to run in the election.
- Trump encouraged Pence to challenge the outcome of the election college, even though the vice president did not have the unilateral authority to do so.
- When Pence said he would not go along with the president’s impossible demands, Trump said the vice president “does not have the courage to do what needs to be done.”
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Marc Short, Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, was expelled from the White House today after President Donald Trump criticized Pence for refusing to run in the election, Bloomberg journalists first reported.
Short said Trump banned him from the grounds because the president “blamed” him for advice he gave to Pence, according to RealClearPolitics. reporter Philip Wegmann.
Short did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Pence was planning to oversee a joint session of Congress Wednesday in which the Electoral College votes, which have already been certified by all 50 states, will be counted in the process which is usually nothing more than procedure.
Trump urged Pence to challenge the results during the session, although the vice president did not have the unilateral authority to do so.
Prior to the session, which was interrupted by a violent crowd of Trump supporters, Pence issued a statement saying he would not follow Trump’s impossible demands.
“It is my judgment that my oath to support and defend the Constitution prevents me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which election votes should be counted and which should not,” he said.
The president responded and criticized Pence in a tweet that has since been hidden by Twitter: “Mike Pence did not have the courage to do what needed to be done to protect our country and our Constitution, which gave States the chance to.” to correct a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones they previously asked to confirm. US demands the truth! “
It is suspected that the vice president will consider a presidential election in 2024, although his political ambitions may suffer due to Trump’s criticism.