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This is the equivalent of war. This is a big deal and people are going to die, and so you cant afford to make mistakes, said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Gingrich sent a note to Pence on Sunday praising the discipline he showed during a tough Sunday show interview about the virus, and he insists the vice presidents primary focus is on public safety. But Gingrich also conceded the tremendous political risks for Pence, whose own presidential ambitions are widely known.

If he does this well, he comes out of this as a very big national figure. If he does this badly, he comes out as a dramatically diminished figure. He knows that. His team knows that, Gingrich said.

Following an influx of cases on both coasts over the weekend, Pence took steps Monday to underscore the government's response and continue coordinating with state and local officials. The vice president led a Situation Room teleconference with governors in the afternoon, convened a meeting of the administrations coronavirus task force and cancelled plans to join Trump at a campaign rally in North Carolina.

This is the equivalent of war. This is a big deal and people are going to die, and so you cant afford to make mistakes."

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Instead, Pence stayed behind to hold a nationally televised press conference to try reassuring Americans. His appearance came just hours after it was revealed that four more Americans had died from coronavirus, raising the overall total of deaths in the country to six at the time.

Despite today's sad news, let's be clear: The risk to the American people of the coronavirus remains low, according to all of the experts that we're working with across the government, Pence said. This president has said we're ready for anything. But this is an all-hands-on-deck effort.

And on Tuesday, Pence will make a rare bipartisan trip to Capitol Hill to brief both Republican and Democratic senators at their weekly lunches.

Everybody needs to go into this knowing there are definitely things that will be beyond the governments or Mike Pences control, but as long as theyre being transparent with the public, with Congress and with fellow governors, I think theres much less political risk, said a former White House official.

Transparency has already become an issue since Pence took the reins of the administrations coronavirus reponse, according to critics who have accused the vice president of muzzling public health officials by requiring that they coordinate with his office prior to issuing their own statements. The New York Times reported Thursday that Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, had told others the White House had instructed him not to say anything else [about the coronavirus outbreak] without clearance. (Fauci later said at a press conference that hes never been muzzled and claimed the story contained a real misrepresentation of what happened.)

In some ways, Pence has borrowed a page from his gubernatorial playbook by attempting to control government messaging as it relates to coronavirus. As of now, Pence spokeswoman Katie Miller has been tasked with fielding internal queries related to coronavirus and coordinating messaging.

But back before Pence had the weight of the vice presidency behind him, as governor of Indiana he attempted to create a state-run news outlet that would have featured an editorial board comprised of his own communications staff. The proposed news site, which Pence unveiled at the height of Indianas HIV outbreak in 2015, was compared to the Soviet Unions Pravda and never came to fruition.

Two people familiar with the administrations plans said the vice presidents office is expected to expand its communications staff in the coming days with loaned-out staffers from several agencies who can then streamline coronavirus messaging with their regular departments. The move would build on Pences efforts to consolidate messaging after Trump spent much of last week directly contradicting top U.S. officials who warned of potentially severe disruptions as more Americans contract coronavirus.

The criticism Pence has already faced for his tightened grip on the administrations messaging is a sign of the treacherous waters hes likely to spend the next several months navigating, where every misstep is critiqued in real time and then filed away as potential ammunition if he chooses to seek higher office down the road.

In fact, Pences handling of the Indiana HIV outbreak which critics have cited in recent days amid questions over his ability to handle the coronavirus crisis illustrates how politicians can incur reputational damage if they mishandle a public health emergency. Though Trump cited the Indiana model as a positive reference point during a press conference last week, others have cast Pences approach as disastrous.

Back in 2015, then-Gov. Pence waited several months before declaring a public health emergency and authorizing a needle exchange program after local officials reported an explosive increase in HIV cases in Scott County, Ind. A 2018 study by researchers at Yale University concluded that the outbreak could have impacted fewer residents if Pence had acted more swiftly as governor. Pence said he eventually changed his mind about the needle exchange program which he initially opposed due to his belief that it contributed to drug abuse after praying about it and soliciting expert opinions.

Its the same attitude Pence has adopted as he works to tackle coronavirus, according to people close to him, who said hes eager to punch through bureaucracy. Pence has been in constant contact with governors whose states have seen one or more cases of coronavirus, describing the administrations working relationships with the states as seamless during his press conference.

Having been a governor and been through these public health crises, hes learned a lot about it and a key lesson is the importance local and state officials play, Gingrich said, adding that hes confident Pence prays about this every morning as he tackles the worsening coronavirus outbreak.

One former White House official said Pence was likely chosen to lead the administrations coronavirus task force not because of his own experience managing a public health crisis, but because hes one of the only officials inside Trumps Cabinet whom the president trusts to be an honest broker among department heads.

The official said Pence proved to Trump that he can settle disagreements and assuage skeptics after he helped shepherd the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement through Congress earlier this year. The same goes for Pences handling of the U.S. Space Force, said Gingrich, noting that the vice president took Trumps vision for the sixth armed forces branch and quickly actualized it.

"You can feel the speed and the impetus that Pence has brought to the space program on behalf of the president and so I think Trump looks at him and says, Heres a guy who gets stuff done,'" Gingrich said.

Still, success in the Trump administration doesnt always translate to job security. Last April, for example, the president went on a firing spree at the Department of Homeland Security following a string of negative news stories about his administrations efforts to curb illegal immigration even as officials inside the agency insisted they were doing as much as they could without breaking the law. Even Pence, whose loyalty has never wavered during the countless controversies of Trumps own making, was left to fend off speculation last fall that the president was preparing to dump him from his 2020 ticket after Trump began asking friends what they thought of his genteel sidekick.

These realities will hang over Pence as he enters his greatest challenge yet: rescuing the Trump presidency and the presidents shot at a second term from a viral outbreak of growing proportions. If things go south, the vice president could become a fall guy, jeopardizing not only Trumps shot at reelection but his own shot at being crowned his successor. But as the U.S. death toll rose on Monday, those close to Pence insisted politics were the last thing on the vice presidents mind.

The most important thing to Pence is the health and safety of the American people, said the former White House official. He wants to do right by the president and hes not thinking about 2024.

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This is the equivalent of war: Pence faces the toughest test of the Trump era - POLITICO