Trump: Pence’s trip to football game ‘was long planned’

Donald Trump is defending Mike Pence following a National Football League game that saw the vice president walk out because of players protesting during the National Anthem.

Some saw Pence’s exit from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis as a publicity stunt, and journalists covering him there were advised in advance that there might be ‘an early departure from the game.’

Trump said Monday in a tweet that the trip was on Pence’s schedule for some time. It’s not clear, however, when his decision to leave was made.

‘The trip by @VP Pence was long planned. He is receiving great praise for leaving game after the players showed such disrespect for country!’ Trump wrote on Twitter.

Pence’s move was met with complaints that it amounted to an expensive political protest of his own – at enormous taxpayer cost.

Trump tweeted Monday that the VP ‘is receiving great praise for leaving [the] game after the players showed such disrespect for [the] country!’

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

Air Force Two, the vice president’s plane, is a C32, the military’s version of a Boeing 757. It costs nearly $43,000 per hour to operate, a CNN reporter tweeted Sunday.

Pence flew from Las Vegas to Indianapolis, and then to Los Angeles, a total of about five hours in the air. 

He reacted quickly on Sunday when the Colts–49ers game was precedde with several San Francisco players kneeled during the playing of The Star Spangled Banner.

The vice president’s handlers, anticipating what he might do, told reporters to stay in their ‘pool’ vans rather than coming in to the stadium.

Trump’s right-hand man is now being slammed by political opponents and NFL players alike for the move.

‘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,’ the president tweeted.

One 49ers player, an early adopter of the take-a-knee protests, claimed the move was an act of ‘systematic oppression.’

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  

Hawaii 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 Democrat wrote on Twitter.

California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff also lashed out at the move, particularly due to the recent controversies about Trump administration cabinet secretaries’ use of private charters and government-owned 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.

‘He knew our team has the most players protest[ing]. 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 Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker, whom the president knocked Sunday on Twitter.

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 and mentioning that former Colts quarterback Peyton Manning was being 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 kickoff, as Colts players stood arm and arm and several 49ers kneeled for the Anthem.

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 mantle from Kaepernick, who’s currently a free agent, with some San Francisco players kneeling instead of standing at every game this season.

Pence was offended and tweeted in disgust; the White House’s statement echoed his.

‘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.’