Joe.My.God. LGBT News
TIME reports:
Vice President Mike Pence pushed back against a report quietly laying the groundwork for a presidential run in 2020, calling the allegations “categorically false.” He released a statement Sunday following a New York Times report that he was considering his own presidential bid in the 2020 race.
“The American people know that I could not be more honored to be working side by side with a president who is making America great again,” Pence said in a statement released Sunday morning.
“Whatever fake news may come our way, my entire team will continue to focus all our efforts to advance the President’s agenda and see him elected in 2020. Any suggestion otherwise is both laughable and absurd.”
From that New York Times report:
Mr. Pence has been the pacesetter. Though it is customary for vice presidents to keep a full political calendar, he has gone a step further, creating an independent power base, cementing his status as Mr. Trump’s heir apparent and promoting himself as the main conduit between the Republican donor class and the administration.
The vice president created his own political fund-raising committee, Great America Committee, shrugging off warnings from some high-profile Republicans that it would create speculation about his intentions.
The group, set up with help from Jack Oliver, a former fund-raiser for George W. Bush, has overshadowed Mr. Trump’s own primary outside political group, America First Action, even raising more in disclosed donations.
Mr. Pence also installed Nick Ayers, a sharp-elbowed political operative, as his new chief of staff last month — a striking departure from vice presidents’ long history of elevating a government veteran to be their top staff member.
Mr. Ayers had worked on many campaigns but never in the federal government. Some in the party’s establishment wing are remarkably open about their wish that Mr. Pence would be the Republican standard-bearer in 2020, Representative Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania said.
My statement regarding the absurd @NYtimes article. pic.twitter.com/htvYSbS2dy
— Vice President Pence (@VP) August 6, 2017