Campaign

Former Pence chief of staff: Trump shouldn’t hold his breath for an endorsement

by Nick Robertson - 12/14/23 10:04 PM ET

In this Monday, Sept. 16, 2019 file photo, Marc Short, then-chief of staff for Vice President Mike Pence, speaks with reporters at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Marc Short, once the chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence, said Thursday that Pence isn’t likely to endorse former President Trump for the 2024 election.

“I don’t think President Trump should be holding his breath for that,” Short said of an endorsement, in an appearance on “The Hill” on NewsNation. “I certainly would not anticipate any endorsement of him anytime soon.”

Short, who remains a close ally of Pence, has consistently criticized Trump over his handling of the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, as Pence has.

He said the issue is “more than personal” for Pence, who has been at the receiving end of harsh criticism from his former running mate since the pair left the White House in 2021.

Short pointed specifically to Trump’s demands for Pence to overturn the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021.

“Your oath to the Constitution is one of your most sacred oaths to take,” he said. “If you violate that oath, and you call on your vice president to violate that oath — I think that’s a pretty fundamental difference.”

Pence has shied away from the limelight since suspending his 2024 presidential campaign in October.

On the campaign trail, he criticized Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen and his requests for Pence to overturn the results.

“President Trump was wrong then and he’s wrong now,” Pence said in August. “I had no right to overturn the election. Very clear that under the Constitution of the United States, Article 2, my responsibility as vice president, as president of the Senate, was to preside over a joint session of Congress where the Constitution says the electoral votes shall be opened and shall be counted.”

“I truly do believe that we kept our oath to the Constitution that day,” he continued. “But the American people deserve to know that President Trump, you know, asked me to put him over my oath to the Constitution. But I kept my oath, and I always will.”

The Hill and NewsNation share a parent company, Nexstar Media Group.