FILE PHOTO: U.S. Vice President Mike Pence President delivers remarks to the National Rifle Association-Institute for Legislative Action’s (NRA-ILA) 148th annual meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Mike Pence abruptly canceled a planned trip to New Hampshire on Tuesday after being called back to the White House for an unspecified reason, White House officials said.
Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, told Reuters there was no emergency after news reports that the vice president’s plane was called back for an “emergency.”
“The vice president was called back to the White House but there’s no cause for alarm and we’ll reschedule the trip soon,” Short said.
Short said Pence’s plane never actually left Washington.
The White House would not say what issue arose to keep Pence in place. A senior administration official said there was no medical issue involving Pence or President Donald Trump.
“Something came up that required the vice president to remain in D.C. There is no cause for concern. Everybody’s fine,” White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told reporters.
Pence had been scheduled to fly to Manchester, New Hampshire, to speak with former patients and others at the Granite Recovery Center, an addiction treatment facility, his official schedule showed.
Reporting by Steve Holland; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Susan Thomas and Will Dunham