Vice President Pence’s office isn’t a fan of the truth, or at least the truth being leaked over Twitter, so now they’re threatening retaliation against a reporter who tweeted that Pence’s people told journalists to wear a mask during a recent visit to the Mayo Clinic, even though the vice president was going full mask off.
Live video of VP Pence deciding not to wear his mask:
So here’s the back story: On Tuesday, VP Pence (who may or may not be a robot and therefore robots don’t need masks) visited the Mayo Clinic where he was photographed looking like the biggest asshole in the room because he was the only one there without a mask, despite the Minnesota clinic’s requirement that everyone wear a mask. Hell, you can’t even get into the CVS in my neighborhood without a mask, damn a clinic that deals with coronavirus.
Pence caught hella shit for his “mask off, fuck it mask off” stunt, a move his wife Karen (hahahahahahha, her real name is Karen!) would tell Fox News on Thursday was because he didn’t know he had to wear one.
See, that’s where things get tricky, and by tricky I mean that they lying, because “Steve Herman, who covers the White House for Voice of America, suggested that there was more to the story after Karen Pence’s interview.”
“All of us who traveled with [Pence] were notified by the office of @VP the day before the trip that wearing of masks was required by the @MayoClinic and to prepare accordingly,” tweeted Herman, who was with a pool of reporters during the visit, the Washington Post reports.
From the Post:
The tweet apparently enraged Pence’s staff, which told Herman that he had violated the off-the-record terms of a planning memo that had been sent to him and other reporters in advance of Pence’s trip.
Herman said he was notified by the White House Correspondents’ Association that Pence’s office had banned him from further travel on Air Force Two, although a spokesperson in Pence’s office later told VOA managers than any punishment was still under discussion, pending an apology from Herman or VOA.
VOA is continuing to talk with Pence’s staff, said Yolanda Lopez, the director of VOA’s news center. She said it wasn’t clear how the vice president intended to proceed.
Pence’s press secretary, Katie Miller, declined to comment.
The issue, according to people involved, is whether Herman’s tweet violated the off-the-record terms of a planning document sent via email Monday evening by the vice president’s office to reporters who planned to travel with Pence to the clinic.
A copy of the document obtained by The Washington Post explicitly stated that masks are required for the visit and instructed reporters to wear them. “Please note, the Mayo Clinic is requiring all individuals traveling with the VP wear masks,” the document said. “Please bring one to wear while on the trip.”
Pence knew he needed to wear a mask and he chose not to wear one. It’s as simple as that. What Pence’s staff is upset about is how his maskless stunt didn’t make him look like a maverick willing to fight the invisible enemy head-on, it actually made him look like an old man who wasn’t wearing a mask (unless, of course, he’s a robot!)
Y’all need to open your third eye.
When questioned after his visit about why he didn’t wear a mask, Pence told reporters that he’s tested frequently and that he didn’t wear one so that he could “speak to these researchers, these incredible health-care personnel, and look them in the eye and say thank you,” the Post reports.
Pence’s team isn’t upset about the mask stunt, they are upset that Herman leaked “off the record” material with the public and that off the record material was the fact that everyone was told to wear a damn mask, which proves my point from an earlier piece I penned, titled:
The Post notes that there is some gray area between how long those directives to pool reporters last.
“My tweet speaks for itself,” Herman said in a statement, the Post reports. “We always have and will strictly adhere to keeping off the record any White House communications to reporters for planning purposes involving logistics that have security implications prior to events. .... All White House pool reporters, including myself and my VOA colleagues, take this very seriously.”
You know whose ass had on a mask on Thursday? VP Mike Pence. He wore one while he visited a “General Motors auto plant in Indiana that has been converted into a factory making ventilators for hospitals around the country,” the Post reports.
But the mask could’ve been just for show if Pence is, in fact, a robot.