Former Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff Marc Short said Friday on CNN’s “The Lead” that Donald Trump’s mugshot was the “tragic” result of the former president violating his oath to protect and defend the Constitution.
Anchor Jake Tapper said, “This is first time I’ve talked to you since Trump turned himself in Fulton County Jail. You worked for Pence, but previously you were Trump’s director of legislative affairs. I want to get your response as a human being, when you look at the mug shot of Donald Trump, the former president, you’ve seen it now.”
He asked, “What is it like to see your former boss, a guy you worked for and a guy whose legislation and polices you tried to enact, so you had to have believed in him. What is it like to see that phot?”
Short said, “I think it’s sad. I think it’s tragic, Jake. I think that I’m very proud of the four years of record. And I think that the president was great to me and great to my family. So, I don’t think there’s any celebration.”
He continued, “I do think that the events of January 6 were tragic and certainly avoidable. And I think that the president got a lot of bad counsel – in many cases, counsel he sought out that I think led him astray. And I think that ultimately asking the vice president to sort of put aside the Constitution is a huge violation of your most important oath to the American people, to protect and defend the Constitution.”
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