Short has worked with legal counsel to implement appropriate recusals.' 'Additionally, on several occasions, including since the formation of the coronavirus task force, Mr. 'Marc Short has followed all applicable ethics laws, and even sought to divest from potential financial conflicts,' said Pence spokesman Devin O'Malley. The White House contends he has followed administration guidelines to avoid conflicts of interest.

Short still holds the stocks - some in trusts for family members - which he disclosed in public records reviewed by NPR.

But he did not divest those holdings after being denied a tax break often granted to government officials who must sell stock to comply with ethics laws. Short declared at least some of his stock holdings - more than 100 listings of individual stocks across a range of economic sectors - to be potential conflicts of interest after he joined the vice president's office last year. Other companies among his holdings, such as CVS, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Walmart and Roche, have been publicly touted by the White House for their work with the federal government on the coronavirus response. Many of the medical, pharmaceutical and manufacturing companies – including 3M, Abbott Laboratories, Gilead Sciences, Procter & Gamble, Medtronic, Bristol Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson – in which Short and his wife hold stock have been directly affected by or involved in the work of the coronavirus task force chaired by Pence. Marc Short, the chief of staff to Vice President Pence, owns between $506,043 and $1.64 million worth of individual stocks in companies doing work related to the Trump administration's pandemic response - holdings that could run afoul of conflict of interest laws. Marc Short, chief of staff to Vice President Pence, listens during a coronavirus briefing with health insurers at the White House on March 10.

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