#Trump dismisses ex-Pence aide who cut ad to say she’s voting for Biden

President Trump on Thursday dismissed a former aide to Vice President Mike Pence, Olivia Troye, as someone who was “let go” — denouncing her after she cut an ad saying she supports Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

“I just heard about that, I don’t know her. She worked for the vice president,” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House for a rally in Wisconsin, according to a pool report.

Trump said that Troye wrote a “beautiful letter” upon her departure in August, despite the fact that she was terminated.

“Mike Pence came to me, told me about her [when] she left. They let her go, with cause, but they let her go, and then she wrote a beautiful letter, as I understand it, a letter praising the administration. But then, the people get hold of her, and say, let’s say some bad things about Donald Trump,” he said.

Trump added, “I never met her to the best of my knowledge, maybe she was in a room. I have no idea who she is. She doesn’t know me.”

Troye worked as an adviser to the White House coronavirus task force and criticized Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in a video for Republican Voters Against Trump.

“If the president had taken this virus seriously, or if he had actually made an effort to tell how serious it was, he would have slowed the virus spread, he would have saved lives,” Troye claimed.

Troye said she heard Trump say in private that the virus would be a “good thing” because it would allow him to avoid hand shakes with “disgusting people.” He has publicly said that avoiding handshakes, thereby limiting the spread of germs, could be a long-term positive result from the pandemic.

Vice President Mike Pence denounced Troye’s ad on Thursday.

“While some may may want to play politics and say different things once they leave here than they said when they were here, we’re going to keep focus on the American people, and keep driving to that day that we have a vaccine, and continue to make sure we tell the story of all the accomplishments,” Pence said.