White House chief of staff defends decision to keep Pence on road

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows declined to say how many people in Vice President Pence’s office have contracted the coronavirus during a contentious CNN interview while defending the decision to keep Pence on the road in the presidential campaign’s final stretch.

In response to questioning from anchor Jake Tapper about the number of positive cases, Meadows said, “We don’t give out that kind of information.”

{mosads}Meadows reiterated the White House’s argument that Pence serves as an essential worker and therefore is permitted to continue campaigning as Election Day looms.

When asked how campaigning is “essential work,” Meadows said, “Well, actually, he’s not just campaigning. He’s working,” citing the administration’s Middle East peace agreement. 

Pence chief of staff Marc Short and adviser Marty Obst have both tested positive for COVID-19. Pence has tested negative for the virus. 

Cases across the country are spiking just more than a week before Election Day. President Trump’s handling of the virus has been the dominant issue in the campaign, with Democratic nominee Joe Biden hammering the White House over how it has dealt with the pandemic.

“We’re not going to control the pandemic,” Meadows said during the interview. “We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigations.”

Meadows and Tapper frequently talked over one another during the interview.

Tapper pressed Meadows on Pence’s campaigning, to which the chief of staff responded, “I’m not saying he’s not campaigning. I’m saying that is only part of what he’s doing.”

“As we look at that, essential personnel, whether it’s the vice president of the United States or anyone else, has to continue on,” Meadows added. 

Meadows said Centers of Disease Control and Prevention guidelines indicate that essential personnel can do their jobs while wearing a mask. 

“I can tell you that what he’s doing is wearing a mask, socially distancing, and when he goes up to speak he will take the mask off, put it back on,” he said.

After several aides, including his chief of staff, tested positive for Covid-19, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows says VP Pence will keep campaigning: “Essential personnel, whether it’s the Vice President of the United States or anyone else, has to continue on” #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/2ZWMmwUHG3

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) October 25, 2020

Pence held a rally in Tallahassee, Fla., on Saturday and did not have a mask on while speaking. 

Tapper also confronted Meadows about a New York Times report that said the White House chief of staff wanted to keep news of an outbreak in Pence’s office under wraps, which Meadows said “obviously” wasn’t “a report.”