MIKE PENCE: “Vice President Mike Pence will lead the U.S. delegation to the Winter Olympics in South Korea next month, U.S. officials said Tuesday [1-9-18].
Mr. Pence is expected to be joined by Ivanka Trump, although her attendance isn’t certain, officials said. President Donald Trump plans to name other members of the U.S. delegation for the Games, which run from Feb. 9 to 25 in Pyeongchang, as soon as Wednesday.
‘We are finalizing the delegation and will announce [it] soon,’ said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders Tuesday evening. She said earlier Tuesday that ‘a number of senior members of the cabinet and administration’ would attend.
Mr. Pence’s wife, Karen, also is expected to be part of the delegation. First lady Melania Trump isn’t currently scheduled to attend. A spokeswoman for Mr. Pence’s office didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Presidential aide Jared Kushner, who is married to the president’s daughter, won’t be part of the U.S. delegation, officials said. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also won’t be attending.
The State Department said Tuesday that there are no plans for American and North Korean officials to meet during the Games, which are taking place amid tensions over the North’s nuclear-weapons program. North Korea and South Korea reached a deal Tuesday for Pyongyang to send a delegation to the Winter Olympics.
Former Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, headed the Obama administration’s first Olympic delegation, to the Winter Games in Vancouver in 2010.”
-Felicia Schwartz, “Mike Pence to Lead U.S. Delegation to Olympics in South Korea,” The Wall Street Journal online, Jan. 9, 2018 11:23pm