Trump barred Pence's chief of staff from the White House after the president attacked Pence for not trying to overturn the election

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Trump barred Pence's chief of staff from the White House after the president attacked Pence for not trying to overturn the election
Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff Marc Short in 2018.William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC Newswire/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
  • Marc Short, Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, was barred from the White House on Wednesday after President Donald Trump criticized Pence for refusing to attempt to overturn the election.
  • Trump had urged Pence to challenge the Electoral College results, even though the vice president did not have the authority to do so.
  • When Pence said he would not go along with the president's demands, Trump said the vice president "didn't have the courage to do what should have been done."
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Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, Marc Short, was barred from the White House on Wednesday after President Donald Trump criticized Pence for refusing to attempt to overturn the election, Bloomberg journalists first reported.

Short said Trump barred him from the grounds because the president was "blaming" him for advice he gave to Pence, according to the RealClearPolitics reporter Philip Wegmann.

Short did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.

Pence was tasked with overseeing a joint session of Congress on Wednesday in which the Electoral College votes, already certified by all 50 states, would be counted in a process that is usually nothing more than procedural.

Trump had urged Pence to challenge the results during the session, even though the vice president did not have the authority to do so.

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Before the session, which was interrupted by a violent mob of Trump supporters, Pence released a statement saying he would not be following Trump's demands.

"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," he said.

The president responded, criticizing Pence, in a tweet that has since been hidden by Twitter: "Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!"

The vice president is thought to be considering a presidential run in 2024, though his political ambitions could become complicated by Trump's criticism near the end of their term.

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