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DonViejo

(60,536 posts) Sun Apr 25, 2021, 11:05 AM Apr 2021

Mike Pence's COVID Rule-Busting Vail Vacation Cost Public $757,000 In Security Costs Alone

04/25/2021 09:20 am ET

Pence hit the slopes as his own task force urged strict precautions amid historic highs in coronavirus cases and the CDC told people to stay home.

By Mary Papenfuss

Mike Pence took heat when he broke COVID-19 safety recommendations to hit the slopes at Vail last year for a Colorado family ski vacation while he was vice president. Now it turns out that he also broke the bank, sticking the public with a $757,000 tab in Secret Service costs alone, according to a watchdog group.

At the time he was schussing down the Vail slopes in December, Pence was head of the White House coronavirus task force. That same task force had issued dire warnings about the pandemic just weeks earlier, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged Americans to stay home for the holidays to help stop the spread of the disease.

Not only did Pence not follow that advice, he forced his Secret Service crew to ignore it as well. According to records obtained by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, at least 48 agents accompanied Pence and his family on the ski vacation from Dec. 23 to Jan. 1.

Agents stayed at different hotels in the area and rented 77 cars. Charges included more than $270,000 at the Marriott Vail Mountain, and more than $80,000 at the Ritz Carlton, CREW reported.