Marc Short, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, was denied access to the White House on Wednesday night, reportedly for offering Pence advice about the certification of the Electoral College vote that President Donald Trump did not like.
“SOURCE tells me: Chief of Staff to Vice President Mike Pence is being denied entry back into the White House. Working to confirm,” reported The Daily Caller’s Henry Rodgers on Wednesday night.
RealClearPolitics White House reporter Philip Wegmann confirmed the report later that night, speaking to Short directly.
“CONFIRMED: Short tells me he is not allowed back on White House grounds,” Wegmann noted.
“He’s blaming me for advice to VP,” Short told Wegmann.
“The ‘he’ here is Donald Trump,” the reporter clarified.
The "he" here is Donald Trump.
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) January 7, 2021
Trump expressed his anger at Pence on Wednesday following the vice president’s statement announcing his intention to not disrupt the certification of the Electoral College vote.
“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving states the chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify,” Trump posted to Twitter on Wednesday afternoon.
“After an election with significant allegations of voting irregularities and numerous instances of officials setting aside state election law, I share the concerns of millions of Americans about the integrity of this election,” Pence said in a statement released early Wednesday. “The American people choose the American President, and have every right under the law to demand free and fair elections and a full investigation of electoral misconduct. As presiding officer, I will do my duty to ensure that these concerns receive a fair and open hearing in the Congress of the United States. Objections will be heard, evidence will be presented, and the elected representatives of the American people will make their decision.”
“It is my considered judgment that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not,” Pence asserted.
“Today it will be my duty to preside when the Congress convenes in Joint Session to count the votes of the Electoral College, and I will do so to the best of my ability,” added Pence. “I ask only that Representatives and Senators who will assemble before me approach this moment with the same sense of duty and an open mind, selling politics and personal interests aside, and do our pan to faithfully discharge our duties under the Constitution. I also pray that we will do so with humility and faith, remembering the words of John Quincy Adams, who said, ‘Duty is ours; results are God’s.’”
According to Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), who had a “long conversation” with the vice president on Tuesday, “Pence felt a sense of betrayal from the president after he attacked him over the Electoral College certification.” The Daily Wire noted:
“I’ve known Mike Pence forever,” Inhofe said Tuesday night, according to Tulsa World. “I’ve never seen Pence as angry as he was today.”
“I had a long conversation with him,” Inhofe added. “He said, ‘After all the things I’ve done for [Trump].’”
“This was really a riot,” Inhofe said concerning the chaos at the Capitol on Wednesday. “He should have shown more disdain for the rioters. I don’t want to say he should have apologized — that’s not exactly accurate — but he should have expressed more disdain.”