Trump administration
President Trump named Short the Director of Legislative Affairs on January 4,2017. [14] Short announced he would leave the White House post in the summer of 2018,citing "diminishing returns" of pushing President Donald Trump's agenda. [15] In July 2018,having left the White House,he joined GuidePost as a partner. [16]
On February 19,2019,Vice President Mike Pence announced Short would be his next Chief of Staff,beginning in March 2019. [1]
On November 20,2019,Short issued a statement rebutting the sworn testimony given that same day before Congress by US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland. Sondland claimed while meeting with Pence that the two discussed the alleged "quid pro quo" that was at the heart of the impeachment inquiry before the House. Marc Short wrote the vice president "never had a conversation with Gordon Sondland about investigating the Bidens,Burisma,or the conditional release of financial aid to Ukraine based upon potential investigations." [17] Later that evening during Cuomo Prime Time,the statement was described as being well crafted and that it didn't deny that Pence already knew about Trump's requests. [18]
During the coronavirus pandemic of 2020,Short played an important role on Vice President Mike Pence's coronavirus task force. During the response to the coronavirus pandemic,Short persistently downplayed the dangers of the pandemic,and criticized the data shared with Trump that modeled an estimated 100,000–240,000 U.S. deaths under a continuation of the administration's social distancing policies,and as many as 1.6 million–2.2 million U.S. deaths in the absence of any mitigation efforts. In internal White House discussions,Short said he did not believe that the U.S. death toll would ever go beyond 60,000. In internal discussions,Short also criticized the administration's public health response in a broader policy level,arguing that it damaged the economy and harmed Trump's re-election chances. He repeatedly encouraged others in the administration to re-open the economy amid the implementation of lockdown and social distancing efforts. [19]
As Short and his wife hold stock in various pharmaceutical and medical companies connected with the Pence task force's work,this raised concerns of potential conflicts of interest. [20] [21] [22]
On October 24,2020,it was reported that Short and three other Pence aides had tested positive for COVID-19. [23] The White House tried to prevent the information from becoming public. [24]
