Vice President Mike Pence had planned to take in Sunday's football game between the Indianapolis Colts and the San Francisco 49ers, President Donald Trump's senior counselor Kellyanne Conway said Monday, denying that he'd pulled a political stunt by leaving early.
It "takes a lot to get that man's blood boiling," she said of the vice president.
"To refer to someone who's standing up for the flag and all it represents to hundreds of millions of Americans and all it signals to the world, our veterans, our unity, the sounding of our great nation to call that a political stunt is truly outrageous, egregious, and offensive," Conway told Fox News' "Fox and Friends."
Pence, a former governor of Indiana, and his wife, Karen, walked out of the game after several football players refused to stand for the national anthem. Soon after, both he and Trump tweeted about the move, leaving critics to complain that the action was a political stunt.
The visit, Conway concurred, was "on the books," but she defended Pence's action.
"When Mike Pence was the governor of Indiana, there were many times that he had to receive, go in and comfort the family of a fallen soldier," Conway said. "He was helping receive the remains of the brave men and women. And those coffins are always draped in a flag. And this is a man who says he doesn't think it's too much to stand."
Conway said she still considers the flag as the "most cohesive, unifying symbol in our nation at a time we feel divided ideologically and geographically."
Trump also defended Pence's actions on Monday, tweeting that the trip was long-planned and that he is "receiving great praise for leaving game after the players showed such disrespect for country!"
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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