Vice President Mike Pence’s move to leave the NFL game between the Indianapolis Colts and the San Francisco 49ers after several players took a knee during the national anthem was planned, a member of the press pool has revealed.
In apparent anticipation of the 49ers players kneeling – the press pool traveling with Pence was told to stay in their vans because there ‘may be an early departure from the game.’
Trump’s right-hand man is now being slammed by political opponents and NFL players alike for the move – with many saying it was an overtly political stunt that wasted tax-payer dollars.
‘I left today’s Colts game because President Trump and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem,’ Pence said in a statement that the White House quickly pushed out to reporters.
Soon after Pence exited the game, Trump took credit for it being his idea.
‘I asked @VP Pence to leave stadium if any players kneeled, disrespecting our country. I am proud of him and @SecondLady Karen,’ Trump wrote on Twitter.
However, now people are calling out both Pence and Trump, saying that this plan not only cost taxpayers thousands of dollars but was also an act of ‘systematic oppression.’
Vice President Mike Pence (left) and his wife Karen (right) are photographed at the Indianapolis Colts game Sunday, which they left after several members of the San Francisco 49ers took a knee to protest racial inequality
Senator Brian Schatz criticized the Vice President’s move for being expensive
Adam Schiff also lashed out at the move, particularly due to the recent controversies regarding the Trump administration use of private planes
Vice President Mike Pence took to Twitter first to explain why he was leaving the Indianapolis Colts game
While Vice President Mike Pence’s Colts didn’t kneel during the national anthem Sunday, a number of members of the San Francisco 49ers – the former team of Colin Kaepernick – engaged in the protest, started by their ex-quarterback
Senator Brian Schatz criticized the Vice President’s move for being expensive.
‘Wait, this was orchestrated to make a point? That’s not an inexpensive thing to do,’ the Hawaii Democrat wrote on Twitter.
Adam Schiff also lashed out at the move, particularly due to the recent controversies regarding the Trump administration use of private planes.
‘After all the scandals involving unnecessarily expensive travel by cabinet secretaries, how much taxpayer money was wasted on this stunt,’ he tweeted.
And 49ers safety Eric Reid, who was one of the players to start kneeling with Kaepernick in 2016, told reporters that he thought the whole thing was a ‘PR stunt.’
‘So this looks like a PR stunt to me,’ he said in a post-game interview, according to The Hill.
‘He knew our team has the most players protest. He knew that we were probably going to do it again. This is what systematic oppression looks like.
‘A man with power comes to the game, tweets a couple of things out and leaves the game with an attempt to thwart our efforts. Based on the information I have, that’s the assumption I’ve made.’
Vice President Mike Pence (left) is photographed giving a thumbs up at Sunday’s Indianapolis Colts game alongside his wife Karen (right). The couple left shortly after the Star Spangled Banner
After the Pences (right) left the game, the vice president tweeted this picture of himself and Karen Pence standing during the national anthem at the Indianapolis Colts game
Vice President Mike Pence sent out a number of tweets explaining why he and his wife Karen left the Indianapolis Colts game after the national anthem was played
With his swift stadium exit, Pence reignited the fight between the administration and the NFL that had quieted down in recent days, replaced in the news cycle by the hurricane in Puerto Rico and the shooting in Las Vegas, along with Trump’s high-profile tiffs with his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who the president knocked on Twitter today.
Pence had started his Saturday by tweeting a three-year-old photo of himself and his wife Karen, decked out in their Colts gear, from 2014, announcing that they were at the game today and mentioning that former Colts quarterback Peyton Manning was being honored.
Manning was to be honored at halftime.
Pence is a known Colts fan, having served as an Indiana congressman and then governor of the Hoosier State.
Things quickly soured for the Pences before kick-off, as Colts players stood arm and arm and several 49ers kneeled during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner.
It should have been no surprise to Pence that the teammates of Colin Kaepernick – who played for the 49ers last year when he started taking a knee to protest racial injustice – would have done the same today.
They’ve taken the mantel from Kaepernick, who’s currently a free agent, with some San Francisco players taking a knee at every game this season.
But Pence got offended and tweeted in disgust.
The White House’s statement echoed his tweets.
‘At a time when so many Americans are inspiring our nation with their courage, resolve, and resilience, now, more than ever, we should rally around our Flag and everything that unites us,’ Pence argued.
Vice President Mike Pence (left) and Karen Pence (right) tweeted about being at the game, using a photo from 2014, noting that former quarterback Peyton Manning was being honored, before leaving after 49ers players didn’t rise during the national anthem
The White House very quickly pushed out a statement from the vice president explaining his reasoning for leaving the game, which echoed his tweets
‘While everyone is entitled to their own opinions, I don’t think it’s too much to ask NFL players to respect the Flag and our National Anthem,’ he continued.
‘I stand with President Trump, I stand with our soldiers, and I will always stand for our Flag and our National Anthem,’ he said.
The vice president later tweeted a photo of himself standing, with right hand over heart, for the Star Spangled Banner.
‘We were proud to stand – with all our @Colts – or our soldiers, our flag, and our National Anthem,’ Pence wrote.
Prepared for the renewed controversy, the White House’s press shop quickly pushed out that exact photo to reporters as well.
‘Vice President Mike Pence, Second Lady Karen Pence, and Major General Courtney P. Carr stand for the singing of the National Anthem at Lucas Oil Stadium before the start of the Indianapolis Colts game against the San Francisco 49ers prior to leaving the game on Sunday, October 8, 2017,’ the White House captioned the image.
Pence had flown to Indianapolis from Las Vegas and then turned around and headed back to the west coast for a Los Angeles fundraising reception, scheduled for Sunday night.
It’s an hour flight between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, but the swing through Indiana added an additional six or so hours to the trip, likely at taxpayer expense.
Indianapolis locals were grumbling because Pence’s hasty exit out of the city delayed the Pacers flight to Detroit, as the basketball team faces off against the Pistons Monday night, the Indianapolis Star reported.
President Trump was visiting Huntsville, Alabama on September 22 when he loudly inserted himself in the kneeling debate by calling out players who engaged in the protest, which was supposed call attention to continued racial inequality in the country.
Conservatives have instead suggested those players protesting are insulting the American flag, veterans and the armed forces.
Trump said he thought it would be great if an NFL owner responded to a player kneeling by saying, ‘Get that son of a b***h off the field right now, out, he’s fired. He’s fired!’
The president briefly turned his attention to another sport when Golden State Warriors player Steph Curry suggested his team could ‘inspire some change’ by refusing Trump’s invitation to the White House to celebrate an NBA playoffs win.
‘Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team,’ Trump wrote Saturday morning. ‘Stephen Curry is hesitating, therefore invitation is withdrawn!’
At the same time, Trump continued to hammer the issue, suggesting at one point that the NFL should ban players from taking the knee.
All the while, U.S. territory Puerto Rico was being ravaged by Hurricane Maria.
Journalists questioned whether the NFL controversy had distracted the president from being fully engaged in the storm, which has left the island decimated.
‘I wasn’t preoccupied with the NFL,’ Trump said at a Rose Garden presser with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on September 26. ‘I was ashamed of what was taking place.’
Trump made a trip to Puerto Rico this week to survey storm damage and took heat after he joyfully threw paper towel rolls at hurricane victims.
In an interview that aired Saturday night with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the father of Trump’s Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the president characterized the PR blunder as ‘fake news.’
‘They had these beautiful, soft towels, very good towels,’ Trump explained, noting the crowd was ‘loving everything’ and ‘having fun’ as Puerto Ricans gathered waited to pick up supplies.
‘They said, “Throw ’em to me! Throw ’em to me, Mr. President! … the cheering, it was deafening,’ Trump said, and then placed the blame on the media for critics calling the move disrespectful.
‘They turned down the sound,’ he said, suggesting networks had muted the audience’s positive reaction.
The president also visited shooting victims in Las Vegas this week, the same day NBC News put out a story that said Trump’s Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had threatened to leave and had called the POTUS a ‘moron.’
While Tillerson publicly said he’s never intended to leave, he didn’t deny calling Trump a ‘moron,’ further straining the relationship between the two men.
Then, today, Trump further alienated a member of his own party by tweeting that retiring Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., had ‘begged’ for the president’s endorsement, which he refused to give.
Corker shot back in a tweet: ‘It’s a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.’
Sources told CNN that Trump’s statements were untrue, as the president had reached out to the senator, who announced his retirement 11 days ago, and asked him to reconsider, saying he would endorse him if he ran in 2018.
Corker had told reporters this week that Secretaries Rex Tillerson and James Mattis along with Chief of Staff John Kelly ‘are those people that help separate our country from chaos.’
This week, Trump also perplexed the White House press corps by calling a photo he took with military leaders on Thursday night the ‘calm before the storm,’ before then suggesting ‘only one thing will work’ on North Korea.
Now both the president and vice president are back to familiar territory, knocking NFL players who refuse to stand.
That message will likely be highlighted again Tuesday as the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team descends on D.C. and heads to the White House to celebrate a Stanley Cup win.
Amid the last brouhaha over the national anthem, the Penguins had announced that the team would still visit with Trump, a decision that the president touted.
‘Please to inform that the Champion Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL will be joining me at the White House for Ceremony,’ the president tweeted at the time. ‘Great team!’