Pence under the radar as Trump fights for power

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As Trump takes an aggressive posture on social media and in a fake White House appearance last week before the race was called for Democrat Joe Biden, Pence appears to be making a political calculation by keeping his head down.

The vice president, who has maintained a busy travel schedule in the weeks leading up to the election, has made rare public appearances since election day and has yet to answer questions from reporters. Privately he is following the straight line – but publicly he has remained under the radar following the election that gave Biden a decisive victory.

Pence’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNN.

On Tuesday, Pence spoke with Republicans in the Senate behind closed doors. On Wednesday he is expected to join the president and the first lady at Arlington National Cemetery to commemorate Veterans Day, and on Friday he is expected to address the Council for National Policy.

After it was publicly announced that he was going on vacation as Trump tried to challenge the election result, Pence canceled a planned trip to Sanibel Island with his family.

Although Pence tweeted that he told his staff on Monday that the 2020 fight “was not over,” he was due to leave the next day for Sanibel and the flight restrictions were in place. But those restrictions were lifted and her trip was canceled. Pence staff have events planned for him around Washington.

The weather on Sanibel Island is also bad this week with Hurricane Eta. Local officials said they were concerned about potential flooding.

Pence had referred to the planned vacation during his meeting on Tuesday on Capitol Hill, a source familiar with the conversation said. During the meeting, Pence also gave an overview of the campaign court challenges, as well as the progress of the Covid-19 vaccine and the U.S. Senate races in Georgia, heading into the second round.

And although he has been a visible television presence at key times – making appearances on morning shows at the Democratic National Convention in August, at the start of the pandemic in March, and after the Soleimani raid in January – Pence has yet to do so since the election.

Members of Congress, many of whom have publicly supported the President’s efforts to challenge the election results, are taking note.

“Got the whole party there and no VP?” a Capitol Hill aide lamented to CNN.

The vice president, who is said to have presidential ambitions himself, expressed his support for his boss in a tweet.

“I’m with President @realDonaldTrump. We have to count every LEGAL vote,” he said. tweeted last week, after political observers noted his silence on the issue last week, in the days following his muted remarks in the East Room.

Trump has yet to provide any evidence to support the allegations of voter fraud.

Pence has also declined to play a public contact role as head of the coronavirus task force amid new cases and record hospitalizations across the country.

On the day Biden announced his coronavirus advisory board, the task force met on Monday, the first such meeting since October 20. The group discussed the news about Pfizer’s vaccines, Pence said in a Tweeter who showed it in the situation room without a mask.

Pence also did not lead the task force’s weekly conference call with governors across the country as the pandemic escalated.

The calls, which are substantial and focus primarily on communicating trends and new information to state leaders, have largely taken place weekly since the start of the pandemic. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar organized an appeal while Pence was campaigning on October 30. Azar also led an appeal on October 13. Pence, who led the vast majority of appeals, was not on the governors’ call. in over a month, her last appearance will be on September 29.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins contributed to this report.



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