Breaking news tonight (Oct. 24) that two key members of Pence's staff have tested positive for Covid in the last few days. One is his Chief of Staff, Marc Short, and the other his top campaign adviser, Marty Obst. Pence had contact with both of them this week, including travelling on the same plane.
The White House says that Pence has no plans to quarantine because he's an "essential" employee and thus will continue to attend rallies and campaign events this week.
When Trump was diagnosed, I thought it was odd that Pence didn't quarantine then either. Is it possible that he had Covid-19 back in May when another of his staff had it and it was kept hidden?
On the other hand, I remember a prediction (I think in the Sept. 2020 group) of Pence "coughing and coughing."Â Â
NY Times is reporting that a third person on Pence's staff is also infected with Covid.
Also this, from NYTimes' reporter Maggie Hagerman on Twitter:
"Two people briefed on the matter said that the White House chief-of-staff, Mark Meadows, sought to keep the information about the VP office outbreak from becoming public."
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/24/us/politics/pence-virus-marc-short.html
Another update from the NY Times (via Maggie Hagerman on Twitter):
UPDATE: The total of aides around Pence in the coronavirus outbreak is up to FIVE people. Short, Obst and 3 additional VP office staff, per ppl briefed nytimes.com/2020/10/24/us/
Sorry - it was late when I posted the above. It's Maggie Haberman of the NY Times, not Haggerman. Â
Mark Meadows on CNN this morning said that the pandemic can't be controlled. The Trump administration has totally given up any pretense. They don't care.
I wish I could feel as calm and optimistic as some here have expressed feeling but my dreams have been filled with monsters, bones, and shouting the last few days. Maybe this is why?
That Meadows comment scared the hell out of me. It makes no sense to say that a week before the election. I can only think of 2 reasons for it. Either they have given up, which is political suicide and Trump would never buy in if it were a true resignation, or they think they have the election in the bag.Â
The only way they can be thus confident is to know of definite success in foreign interference. It also makes no sense for Putin to back Hunter Biden publically unless he wants to further the narrative that Russia is helping Biden and not Trump. Something big is definitely coming from Russia and I just hope we can stop it. I still see a major grid attack on 11/3.
@mas1581 I 100% agree with your assessment about what Meadows said. They trotted out Jared today to try to dial it back, but, as usual, Count Jared was not convincing. I think what Meadows said was the truth: The Trump Administration has given up and Trump has no desire to do anything more. Â
It does make sense for Putin to back off the Hunter Biden smears if the Russians have come to the conclusion that Biden is going to win. I doubt there’ll be a grid attack or anything similarly dramatic, because the risks are too high for Russia (or other actor), and the effects totally unpredictable. The political pressure to retaliate for an attack like that would be too much even for a Trump admin to ignore.  Trump has not succeeded in totally coopting US intelligence so far, so info on the responsible parties would leak.Â
The thing I worry about is other nations exploiting US weakness prior to the inauguration. China-Taiwan, Russia-Ukraine, and other long-standing conflicts could flare up now that the US has other things on its mind.Â