Colorado Politics

VP Mike Pence ringing out 2017 Aspen-style

A motorcade carrying the Mike Pence, led by a Secret Service helicopter, made its way down Colorado 82 in Pitkin County Tuesday, the Aspen Times’ Rick Carroll reported.

The vice president and his wife, Karen Sue, are expected enjoy the high country fare through New Year’s Day. The Aspen Times noted flight restrictions around Eagle County Airport on Jan. 1 to determine Pence’s departure.

The newspaper posted a video of the motorcade winding through the Roaring Fork Valley on its Facebook page.

Aspen hosted a week-long visit from the Trumps – sans Donald – last March.

The party included Donald Jr. and Vanessa Trump and their five children, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner and their three children, as well as Eric and Lara Trump and two of the family’s dogs, flanked heavily by Secret Service agents.

The weeklong getaway resulted in $330,000 in security costs. CBS News reported that the Obama family’s Aspen security costs, for a smaller group, were about $166,000 in 2016 and $65,000 in 2015.

Trump attended a private fundraiser there in August 2016.

The Aspen Daily News noted at the time:

Back in the 1980s, Trump was known as an Aspen regular. His holiday visit in 1989 made the cover of People magazine when his then-wife Ivana clashed with Trump girlfriend Marla Maples, who later became his second wife, at Bonnie’s restaurant on the slopes of Ajax. Trump also came close to controlling the land downtown that eventually became the St. Regis, but he was outfoxed by another real estate developer.

Pitkin County Sheriff Joe DiSalvo told The Aspen Times Tuesday that his department was notified of the visit and was on standby but not directly involved in the itinerary.

The department extended the same courtesies to visits from the Clintons and Obamas, he said.

“I do consider the Secret Service another law-enforcement agency, and who they protect doesn’t matter.” DiSalvo told the local paper. “We’re helping the Secret Service, not the vice president.”

Pence, of course, is no stranger to Colorado, either. The former Indiana governor stumped for Trump in Denver during the campaign.

He was back in Colorado in October to promote the now-passed tax cuts and tour a Lockheed Martin facility.

 
Mandel Ngan

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