A former aide to Vice President Mike Pence said that the White House “never cared” about the coronavirus and that his chief of staff, who contracted the coronavirus, was “the No. 1 person to act like COVID wasn’t real.”
During an interview on CNN’s Situation Room, former homeland security adviser Olivia Troye said she wasn’t surprised that Marc Short and several other White House aides have recently tested positive for COVID-19.
“I worked very closely with Marc Short. He was the No. 1 person to act like COVID wasn’t real, and when you set the tone on the vice president’s team in that manner as a chief of staff, you’re going to put everyone around you at risk, including the vice president, who I’m not convinced is completely out of the woods right now,” she said.
.@OliviaTroye reacts to the outbreak among Pence’s advisors.
“I worked closely with Marc Short, he was the number one person to act like COVID wasn’t real.”
“My home town of El Paso is going on lockdown…I don’t know how you check out from what’s happening across our country.” pic.twitter.com/uIn325HQgh
— Republican Voters Against Trump (@RVAT2020) October 26, 2020
On Saturday, the vice president’s office revealed Short had tested positive. Following the announcement, Troye tweeted, “Perhaps now you’ll agree that Covid is real. ‘If possible’ ‘consider’ protecting the @VP, staff & the American people from this awful virus.”
Hope you recover quickly @marcshort45 Maybe our moral compasses will now point in the same direction & we can finally be on the same page. Perhaps now you’ll agree that Covid is real. “If possible” “consider”protecting the @VP, staff & the American people from this awful virus. https://t.co/Y7s7iTIhqK
— Olivia of Troye (@OliviaTroye) October 25, 2020
Troye told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that Short made jokes about wearing masks and “heard comments from Marc Short” about her decision to wear a mask while she worked in the White House.
“Well, there were jokes about it,” Troye said. “Or it was joked about. … He would joke about the CDC’s latest effort to stop Americans from going to work.”
Following her interview with CNN, Troye tweeted that the White House coronavirus task force was “pushed aside” in July. She said that the White House’s strategy was to “lie” and “act normal — even if Americans continue to suffer/die.”
“They never cared,” she added.
My response: @BillKristol The #WhiteHouse #Covid Task Force was pushed aside in late July. It was:1)Lie 2)campaign/act normal-even if Americans continue to suffer/die. This pandemic will get worse-They never cared. Please #vote in the biggest election of our lives.⬇️@wolfblitzer https://t.co/NUtSDMHg0U
— Olivia of Troye (@OliviaTroye) October 26, 2020
Pence’s office said on Monday that the vice president and the second lady had both tested negative for COVID-19 in the morning.
Despite at least five of Pence’s aides testing positive for COVID-19, spokesman Devin O’Malley said the vice president will not go into quarantine and will maintain his schedule, citing his work as “essential.”
Under the current guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Pence is considered a “close contact” to Short. The CDC recommends that close contacts quarantine for at least 14 days.
Pence is in the middle of a “very aggressive” campaign schedule — last week, he visited seven states in six days, with two campaign rallies nearly every day, according to Newsweek. This week, Pence will be in Minnesota on Monday and North Carolina on Tuesday, TIME reported.
Saskia Popescu, an infectious disease expert at George Mason University, told the outlet that Pence’s decision to travel was “grossly negligent.”
“It’s just an insult to everybody who has been working in public health and public health response,” she said. “I also find it really harmful and disrespectful to the people going to the rally.”
“He needs to be staying home 14 days,” she added. “Campaign events are not essential.”
