December 22, 2019

Marc Short, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday refused to condemn President Donald Trump for suggesting that a deceased Democratic lawmaker is burning in hell.

Fox News host Chris Wallace asked Short about the remarks, which Trump made a recent rally.

"You talk about morality and character," Wallace told Short. "I want to ask you about the president's comments in Michigan this week where he suggested that the late Congressman John Dingell might be in hell looking up rather than in heaven looking down."

"How do you explain the president making a comment that hurt [Debbie Dingell] so deeply?" the Fox News host continued. "You talk about Christmas, this will be her first Christmas in 38 years without her husband. And why won't he apologize?"

"I'm sorry that she's hurting," Short replied. "And I certainly wish her the best as she deals with the circumstances. I think that our administration respects the service of John Dingell in uniform. We respect his service to our country in Congress and we respect her service."

"I'm sorry she's in this circumstance today," he added. "You know, John Dingell was not exactly a wallflower and John Dingell called the president imbecile in his closing months."

Short noted that in spite of Dingell's remarks about Trump, the president claimed that the president called his widow with condolences.

"He lowered flags to half mast," he concluded. "I think this president is feeling in the midst of impeachment, that was something that came up at his rally speech."

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon