Report Sheds Light On Why Pence Abruptly Canceled That NH Trip

Vice President Mike Pence speaks following his tour of the U.S. Navy Hospital Ship USNS Comfort on June 18, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Joe Skipper/Getty Images)
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The explanation for Vice President Mike Pence’s abruptly cancelled flight to New Hampshire may finally be coming clear — his team didn’t want him to shake hands with an alleged drug dealer.

According to Politico, among the crowd waiting to greet Pence when he deplaned from Air Force Two would have been Jeff Hatch, a former professional football player who agreed Friday to plead guilty after a probe was conducted into his alleged transporting of more than $100,000 worth of fentanyl from Massachusetts to New Hampshire. Hatch is reportedly facing four years in prison after being charged with using a telephone to help commit a crime.

Hatch worked at the Granite Recovery Center where Pence was slated to speak, and had previously made speeches about overcoming his own opioid addiction.

Pence’s office has remained mum about the reason for the cancellation, though the Vice President said that the sudden reversal was due to “circumstances on the ground” in a teaser of a podcast episode posted Monday.

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Notable Replies

  1. Being the principled, upstanding Christian that he says he is I can understand Pence’s reluctance to associating with people of low character not named Trump.

  2. Hatch was warned about cavorting with known criminals, so Pence, in full Christian pity and piety, decided to stay away.

  3. “The explanation for Vice President Mike Pence’s abruptly cancelled flight to New Hampshire may finally be coming clear — his team didn’t want him to shake hands with an alleged drug dealer.”

    Sheesh, I never could have gone anywhere if these rules were in place in the 70s.

  4. Oh please. They cancelled a trip and then were silent for weeks because they some how lacked the ability to have Pence not shake hands with someone? Anyone on the Pence team OR at the facility itself could have just said “Pence isn’t going to shake hands with Hatch” and that would have been it. But we’re supposed to believe that is the reason for weeks of stonewalling, an immediate plane turn-around and Pence rushing back to the White House?

  5. That is where he draws the line? How the hell does he shake hands with his devoted leader?

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