Donald Trump had and now still has a problem with both Mike Pence and Marc Short (Pence’s former chief of staff). Recall, Trump was so furious with both of them due to Pence’s refusal to go along with Trump’s January 6th plan that Trump banned them both from the White House on January 7th.
Now Short has agreed to testify to the Select Committee and some analysts believe that he’s doing so with Pence’s blessing (Pence could not “ban” Short from testifying because DOJ has already determined that privilege doesn’t apply, but we’ve seen loyalty prevent others from speaking and apparently Short doesn’t feel any loyalty to Trump’s administration). Analysts are now wondering whether Pence is motivated, in part, by the chance to throw a wrench, perhaps a roadblock, in Trump’s way to a possible 2024 run.
The matter came up during Monday’s edition of CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360.” Correspondent Jamie Gangel speculated: (Video Below)
“So, the Pence team motivation is interesting because we’ve seen Pence separate himself from Trump.
“Sort of come back to Trump, then, say I did the right thing on — on January 6th. He has indicated he wants to run for president. Maybe he sees this as a way to muddy up Trump, to get a different lane in the Republican base.”
Hold up, right there.
Pence has to know that he has about as much chance of being the Republican nominee as does Lauren Boebert, at least in this site’s opinion. Short, being Pence’s chief of staff, and being banned from the White House, likely has some “issues” with Trump over the way Trump treated Pence, risking Pence’s life after a term in which Pence demonstrated a level of loyalty that was almost embarrassing.
Other than Pence, himself, Short may be the single most-informed person to testify as to the pressure Trump put on Pence, the threat to Pence, and perhaps most devastatingly, why Pence didn’t trust the Secret Service on January 6th to drive him out of the Capitol grounds and why Pence feared that he was in the middle of some sort of conspiracy.
From the outside, it appears just as likely that an angry Pence and an angry Short see Short’s testimony as an opportunity to get in front of the committee with far less coverage than any possible Pence testimony and give the committee the exact same information that Pence might give. The committee is not a court of law, it is allowed to consider “hearsay.” Pence might have told Short what happened throughout the process, leading up to January 6th and what happened on January 6th. Unlike a court trial, the committee can use that evidence any way it would like.
Some of that information could be utterly devastating to Trump. Perhaps part of the motivation might be an attempt to throw a roadblock into a Trump White House run. But, surely, both Pence and Short must still carry some anger about that day, when Trump put Pence at particular risk by tweeting out that Pence failed them just as the rioters breached the Capitol. That anger might motivate Short (and Pence) to tell a much deeper and more devastating story.
It might be the only opportunity they have to right some real wrongs and get back at the person who hung one of Trump’s most loyal soldiers out to face the horde coming through the door.
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