{"id":33318,"date":"2020-10-25T13:21:56","date_gmt":"2020-10-25T17:21:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=33318"},"modified":"2020-10-26T06:27:14","modified_gmt":"2020-10-26T10:27:14","slug":"is-this-how-deep-state-is-trying-to-take-pence-out-of-the-campaign-home-stretch-pence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=33318","title":{"rendered":"Is this how Deep State<\/i> is trying to prevent Pence from campaigning on home stretch?!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, has tested positive for coronavirus<\/h1>\n

Maureen Groppe
\nUSA TODAY<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2013 Marc Short, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, tested positive for COVID-19 Saturday, Pence’s spokesman said in a statement Saturday night after reports that another\u00a0senior\u00a0adviser had also tested positive.<\/p>\n

The New York Times and\u00a0CNN<\/a>\u00a0reported that an\u00a0additional Pence aide\u00a0had\u00a0tested positive for the virus, bringing the total to at least three. The\u00a0Times reported<\/a>\u00a0as many as five\u00a0close associates to the vice president\u00a0have tested positive for COVID-19.<\/p>\n

Short began isolating\u00a0Saturday and assisting in the contact tracing process, according to Pence spokesman Devin O’Malley.<\/p>\n

Both Pence and his wife, Karen, tested negative Saturday and Pence is not curtailing his movements\u00a0despite having been in close contact with Short.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile Vice President Pence is considered a close contact with Mr. Short, in consultation with the White House Medical Unit, the Vice President will maintain his schedule in accordance with the CDC guidelines for essential personnel,” O’Malley said in the statement.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump, who contracted the virus about three weeks ago, briefly commented to reporters after returning from the campaign trail early Sunday morning.<\/p>\n

“He\u2019s going to be fine,” Trump said of Short, when he got off Air Force One. “But he\u2019s quarantining.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Marc<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Pence is head of the White House’s coronavirus task force.<\/p>\n

Pence\u00a0was in the middle of his\u00a0second campaign rally<\/a>\u00a0in Florida Saturday when\u00a0Bloomberg reported<\/a>\u00a0that Marty Obst, his outside senior political adviser, had tested positive.<\/p>\n

Bloomberg said it wasn’t immediately clear whether Obst had developed symptoms of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

CNN\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0that Obst tested positive earlier in the week.<\/p>\n

Obst did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

\"Vice-president<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Both Obst and Short often travel with Pence.<\/p>\n

Short, but not Obst, traveled with Pence to Indiana Thursday and interacted with the supporters who came out for Pence’s rally in Fort Wayne.<\/p>\n

Short did not travel with Pence to Florida on Saturday. Aides who had been in close contact with Short were pulled from the trip before departure.<\/p>\n

Katie Miller,<\/a>\u00a0Pence’s communications director, contracted the virus in May.<\/p>\n