Mike Pence’s NFL Game Walkout Cost Indiana Police $14,000

Vice President Mike Pence’s walkout at an NFL game last month cost Indiana Police tens of thousands of dollars, according to a report released Tuesday by nonprofit watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). Pence left a game between the Indianapolis Colts and the San Francisco 49ers in protest after some of the players knelt during the National Anthem.

The exit cost the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department more than $14,000, according to CREW’s review of documents.

“There’s a difference between what you can get away with legally and what is ethically right,” CREW executive director Noah Bookbinder said in a press release. “At a time when the administration is proposing massive budget cuts for the federal government, it is especially inappropriate to use taxpayer dollars for a political publicity stunt.”

Pence exiting the game came amid a fight between NFL players and the presidential administration as some players continued to kneel in protest against police brutality. President Donald Trump at one point urged the NFL to ban any players who continued kneeling. Trump condoned Pence’s walkout, stating afterward that he asked the vice president to leave the stadium if any players kneeled. He also said he was proud of Pence and his wife for leaving the game.

“I left today’s Colt’s game because @POTUS and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag or our National Anthem,” Pence wrote on Twitter at the time.

CREW condemned the actions of the vice president as nothing more than a costly publicity stunt.

“The tone is set at the top when it comes to this administration’s disregard for ethics,” Bookbinder said. “Vice President Pence should know better than to use taxpayer money to make a rhetorical point, but carelessness with taxpayer money seems to be a common theme with senior administration officials.”