WASHINGTON – Vice President Mike Pence plans to continue his crusade after his doctor decided Friday that he was complying with federal quarantine rules despite an interaction with President Donald Trump this week.
It is known how many contacts Pence had with Trump, who announced Friday morning that he and his wife had tested positive.
But in an appearance on the crusade Tuesday night, Pence told his supporters that he saw FirstHand Trump’s preparation for that night’s debate.
“I can tell you that I left the president the day before in the Oval Office and he’s ready,” Pence said.
He had also joined the president for the Rose Garden occasions on Monday and Saturday. On Sunday, the president and vice president attended a White House reception for the circle of relatives of deceased service members.
John Hudak, deputy director of the Brooking Center for Effective Public Management and principal investigator of governance studies, said Pence cancels cross-trips or turns them into remote occasions to protect the line of succession.
“The vice president’s fitness right now is the same as the president’s fitness,” Hudak said Friday. “And keep it in shape
The Centers for Disease Control recommends 40 14 days for those who have been in close contact with a user with COVID-19. Close contact includes being less than six feet away for at least 15 minutes.
Pence’s spokesman declined to comment.
But Trump announced Friday afternoon that Pence “plans to resume its scheduled events. “
Soon after, Pence’s workplace released a message from his doctor saying he didn’t want to quarantine him.
“According to the rules of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the vice president is not in close contact with others who tested positive for COVID, adding that President Donald Trump,” Dr. Jesse T said. Schonau in a statement. ” Vice President Mike Pence stays healthy and relaxed to talk about his general affairs. “
Pence, who undergoes daily tests for the virus, tested negative Friday morning, like his wife.
Pence plans to debate with the Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris on October 7 in Utah.
Campaign events in the past announced through Trump are moving to virtual events or temporarily postponed, according to a Bill Stepien crusader manager.
Trump announced on Twitter early Friday that he and his wife had tested positive and were quarantined.
Hours later, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Trump “felt slight but “energetic” symptoms.
The White House said Thursday that Hope Hicks, one of the president’s oldest aides who traveled with Trump to a rally in Minnesota this week, tested positive.
Katie Miller, Pence’s communications director, had COVID-19 in May.
Pence, 61, leads the coronavirus force of the administration.
Olivia Troye, who left the White House in August after serving as the vice president’s coronavirus adviser, condemned Trump’s handling of the pandemic and added her rejection of the importance of dressing in masks.
“Even in the West Wing, it was a despicable thing when you walked in with a mask,” said Troye, who backed Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Wednesday. “And I think it’s incredibly harmful when it’s tool number one. “, you know, in the toolbox we have. It’s terrible.
Pence didn’t attend the presidential debate on Tuesday. When Trump in Minnesota on Wednesday, Pence Atlanta. Il traveled to Iowa on Thursday for a crusade rally and to speak to a crowd of Conservative Christians on an occasion organized through the Family Leader Foundation.
Participants gathered around the tables of about ten more people in the giant conference room of a Des Moines conference center. Few wore masks.
Pence praised the administration’s reaction to the pandemic, the country has shown “that we can stop the spread. “
“We will continue to the maximum of vulnerability, we will continue to save lives,” Pence said. “And we’re opening Up America Again. “
More: Vice President Mike Pence swears in Iowa: ”We’re going to occupy this seat’ in the Supreme Court
After Trump tested positive, Pence tweeted that he and his wife were sending “our love and prayers to our expensive friends. “
“We join millions of people across america to pray for their complete and rapid recovery,” Pence tweeted, “God bless you, President Trump and our glorious First Lady Melania. “
Pence had no public events on his schedule on Friday and replaced Trump on an afternoon call with the governors, according to the New York Times.
As always, for months, Vice President Pence undergoes COVID-19 testing every day. This morning, Vice President Pence and the moment the girl tested negative for COVID-19, Vice President Pence remains in good physical shape and wishes the Trumps luck. in his recovery.
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If his health is bad enough, Trump, 74, may at some point have to temporarily cede his authority to Pence.
If Trump makes the decision to temporarily cede strength and duties to Pence, it will only be the fourth time the measure has been passed since the 25th Amendment ratified in 1967 to create a legal mechanism to appoint a head of state when the president is disabled or dead.
It was used in short when Ronald Reagan underwent surgery in 1985 and the same when George W. Bush under anesthesia in 2002 and 2007.
The amendment has put in place a procedure in which the president will voluntarily relinquish his duties and create an approach, which has never been used, so that powers are eliminated when others in which the president cannot “fulfill the powers and tasks of his office. “
If Trump himself makes a decision, he will have to resign temporarily, he will have to notify house president Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat for California, and Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, who, at most republican before the Senate, is the professional. President of the Senate.
Pence would be in rate until Trump informs Pelosi and Grassley that he will take office.
If Trump believes he can still do his homework, Pence and a closet majority disagree, a force movement toward Pence would require two-thirds approval from the House and Senate. that the vice president simply paints to claim that Trump is incapable of serving.
In one circumstance, if the president were to die from the virus, Pence would be the first to succeed him.
Pelosi, 80, is second. The negative speaker for COVID-19 on Friday.
Grassley, 87, is third in line. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, 56, is fourth.
Amendment 25 was first used for a transitional disability when Reagan underwent surgery at Bethesda Naval Medical Center to remove a cancerous polyp in his giant intestine in 1985. After the anesthesia dissipated, his staff leader and his lawyer asked him if he felt well enough to regain his authority He said yes and Congressional leaders were informed , although Reagan said he did not believe that his scenario was what the authors were looking for when the amendment was created.
However, it was used twice to temporarily move authority to the vice president when Bush underwent regime colonoscopies.
During vice president Dick Cheney’s two-hour term as interim president in 2007, he wrote a letter to his grandchildren on his behalf.
Contribution: John Fritze and Brianne Pfannenstiel