Vice President Mike Pence's wife, Karen, is claiming that her husband didn't know about the Mayo Clinic's policy requiring visitors to wear masks when he toured the Minnesota facility without one on Tuesday.
“As our medical experts have told us, wearing a mask prevents you from spreading the disease, and knowing that he doesn't have COVID-19, he didn't wear one,” Karen Pence told Fox & Friends on Thursday morning. “It was actually after he left Mayo Clinic that he found out they have a policy of asking everyone to wear a mask. You know, someone who's worked on this whole task force for over two months is not someone who would have done anything to offend anyone, or hurt anyone, or scare anyone, so I'm glad you gave me an opportunity to talk about that.”
Business Insider reports: This contradicts the Mayo Clinic's claim — which it tweeted and then later deleted on Tuesday — that it “informed” Pence about its mask requirement prior to his visit. The vice president defended his decision not to wear a mask on Tuesday, arguing that he's regularly tested negative for the virus. “As vice president of the United States I'm tested for the coronavirus on a regular basis, and everyone who is around me is tested for the coronavirus,” Pence said, according to NBC. “Since I don't have the coronavirus, I thought it'd be a good opportunity for me to be here, to be able to speak to these researchers these incredible healthcare personnel and look them in the eye and say thank you.”
A short time after her interview aired on Thursday, “Karen Pence” began trending on Twitter:
