VP Pence Cancels Trip at Last Minute, Summoned to White House

WHITE HOUSE - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence canceled at the last minute a Tuesday trip to the state of New Hampshire and hurried back to the White House for reasons that are not clear. 

“Something came up,” Hogan Gidley, the principal deputy White House press secretary told a group of reporters who gathered outside his West Wing office at noon Tuesday seeking comment. 

“There’s no cause for concern,” Gidley added, but he would not elaborate.

Minutes later a senior administration official clarified to VOA News that the incident has “absolutely nothing to do with the health of the president or the vice president.” 

Both President Donald Trump and Pence were in the West Wing during the noon hour, though it was unclear if they were meeting.

The vice president had been scheduled to join a roundtable discussion with former patients at the Granite Recovery Center headquarters and make remarks in New Hampshire on the opioid crisis and the flow of illegal drugs before returning to Washington on Tuesday evening.

Air Force Two did not take off from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland for the approximate 650-kilometer flight to New Hampshire, according to administration sources.