'John Dingell was not exactly a wallflower': Pence chief of staff defends Trump attacks on late congressman
Washington Examiner, Dec 22, 2019

Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, Marc Short, defended President Trump's recent attacks on former Rep. John Dingell by insisting the late congressman "was not exactly a wallflower" himself.

Joining Fox News Sunday, Short was confronted about the president's rally last week, during which Trump suggested Dingell may be in hell "looking up" at his wife Debbie Dingell, who now holds the Michigan Democrat's congressional seat.

"How do you explain the president making a comment that hurt her so deeply — you talk about Christmas, this’ll be her first Christmas in 38 years without her husband — and why won’t he apologize?" Wallace asked.

"Chris, I’m sorry that she’s hurting, and I’m sorry — and I certainly hope and wish her the best as she deals with the circumstances. I think that our administration respects the service of John Dingell," Short said. "We respect in uniform, we respect his service to our country in Congress, and we respect her service to our country following her husband in Congress."

He continued, "I’m sorry that she’s in this circumstance today, but, you know, in light of where we were on Wednesday night, I think the president’s saying John Dingell was not exactly a wallflower. John Dingell called the president ‘imbecile’ in his closing months. John Dingell himself, as well, had a lot of critical comments about the president, yet he took time to call Debbie Dingell, to express his personal condolences on the passing. He lowered flags to half-mast."

On the day of his impeachment in the House, Trump railed against Dingell during a campaign rally that night, expressing his frustration with her vote in favor of impeaching him on two articles: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

"She calls me up," Trump said, recalling their conversation following John Dingell's February death. "'It's the nicest thing that's ever happened. Thank you so much. John would be so thrilled. He's looking down. He would be so thrilled.'"

He added, "I said, 'That's OK, don't worry about it.' Maybe he's looking up; I don't know. Maybe, but let's assume he's looking down."

The president's joke was met with backlash from those on both sides of the political aisle. Debbie Dingell herself responded to the attack, saying it "made my healing much harder."

Prior to Short's defense, others pointed out that John Dingell had at one point told Trump to "go to hell," saying during the 2016 election, "On behalf of so many of my fellow veterans: Please take two running jumps and go to hell, Mr. Trump."

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/...ate-congressman

I see Congressional seats are now passed to next of kin.