Marc Short, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, ripped former Pence aide Olivia Troye for how she portrayed President Donald Trump’s coronavirus response during a recent interview.
Troye, who served as an adviser to Pence on the coronavirus task force, told “NBC Nightly News” that Trump isn’t “actually looking out for” Americans when it comes to his coronavirus response. She claimed Trump is more focused on “public image” and “his personal agenda” than protecting Americans.
During a Tuesday appearance on “MSNBC Live with Hallie Jackson,” Short called her statements “factually incorrect.”
“She’s not somebody who expressed any of these misgivings during her time here,” Short said of the former aide, who left her role at the White House in July. “And I think that the statements that she made are just factually incorrect.”
He noted that Troye was asked to go back to the Department of Homeland Security “because we felt the strain was too much for her to do the job.”
He said “it’s clear” that Troye has a “personal agenda against the president” and has joined other former Homeland Security employees who are “campaigning for Joe Biden in an effort to defeat Donald Trump.”
Short said he never heard the president say the coronavirus is a good thing because it meant he wouldn’t have to shake “disgusting” people’s hands. Troye alleged she was in the Situation Room with Trump when he made the remarks.
“You’ve heard the president, himself joke about shaking hands on the campaign trail,” Short said. “But you know I’ve never heard the president give the remarks that Olivia said he made.”
Short said he “never” heard Trump call Americans disgusting.
“No, of course not,” he told Jackson when she pressed him on Troye’s claim. “Never heard that. Absolute not.”
He said he doesn’t know why Troye is making these allegations against the president. He pointed out that she wrote a glowing departure letter.
“I think that all of us on the team never heard her express those concerns about — her apparent concerns about the president when she was here,” Short said. “All she did was express gratitude, and she was frankly remorseful when we told her it was time for her to go and go back to the Department of Homeland Security.”
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