Pence canceled New Hampshire trip to avoid contact with drug trafficker: report

Vice President Pence abruptly canceled his planned trip to New Hampshire earlier this month to avoid shaking hands with an alleged interstate drug dealer, according to a Politico report.

If Pence had flown on Air Force Two for the planned opioid event in Manchester, N.H., he would have come into contact with former New York Giants player Jeff Hatch, who now works for the opioid addiction treatment center Pence was set to visit, Politico reports.

{mosads}Hatch is under investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for moving more than $100,000 of fentanyl from Massachusetts to New Hampshire, and he agreed on Friday to plead guilty to the charge and will serve up to four years in prison, according to Politico.

As a result, the vice president never left Washington on July 2, despite reports that Air Force Two was called back in midair so that he could attend to an unspecified emergency.

Pence’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.

His office previously said the day’s change of plans was “no cause for alarm” and that the vice president “looks forward to rescheduling the trip to New Hampshire very soon.”

President Trump later told reporters that “there was a very interesting problem that they had in New Hampshire,” adding that the reason will come out “in about a week or two.”