Vice President Pence Cuts Short His Visit To Hawaii
Hours before arriving in Honolulu, Pence told aides he was curtailing his visit because he was needed back in Washington
After a week-long visit to Asia, Vice President Mike Pence abruptly cut short his stay in Hawaii on the way home Monday.
Pence had been expected to stay two nights, visit the USS Arizona Memorial and meet with troops at Schofield Barracks.
Instead he arrived on Air Force Two at Hickam Air Force Base late Sunday and departed Oahu about 15 hours later on Monday afternoon.
Pence waved from the door of the aircraft as he arrived with his wife, Karen, and two daughters, but amid tight security, there were few people in attendance to wave back.
The Pences were greeted at the airport by Hawaii Gov. David Ige and his wife, Dawn Amano-Ige, and Adm. Harry Harris, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, and his wife, Bruni Bradley.
Ige and his wife presented the Pences with flower leis and the traditional aloha greeting, which actually occurred Monday — a few minutes after midnight.
The vice president smiled and chatted with the Iges, but quickly removed the lei he had been given.
Within a few minutes, he and his party joined a motorcade of black SUVs lined up on the tarmac.
Pence had originally planned to visit the Arizona memorial and attend a pre-scheduled meeting he had planned with troops at Schofield Barracks.
His aides told reporters in the traveling press pool that Pence cut the trip short because he needed to rush back to Washington to assist with health care legislation and budget issues.
They said Pence also did not want to shut down the Arizona memorial, which is usually closed for security reasons when a top government official visits. Anti-Trump protesters had planned to demonstrate at the memorial. Instead they shifted their protest to the Federal Building.
Pence had lunch with troops at the Hale Aine dining hall at Hickam Air Force Base, met with leaders of the Pacific Command at Camp H. M. Smith and was scheduled to depart at 3:25 p.m. for Washington.
The Pence family spent the night at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe.
Civil Beat was told it would not be permitted to cover Pence’s meeting with the troops. Rebeccah Propp, a spokeswoman for the vice president, said there was no room.
Only three members of the media — a reporter and two photographers — covered Pence’s arrival in Honolulu because White House officials had made no prior arrangements for local press coverage.
During his nine-day whirlwind visit to Asia, Pence met with officials and business leaders in Japan, South Korea, Australia and Indonesia. The rising tensions with North Korea were a frequent topic of conversation, according to press pool reports.
