During a church service attended by Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, a pastor denounced the “shithole country” remarks made by President Trump, WUSA-TV reports.

Pastor Maurice Watson called the president’s comments “hurtful” and “dehumanizing” and called for the president to be held accountable for his words.

Pence reportedly became “visibly red-faced” at times throughout the speech.

“While discussions are underway about President Trump possibly speaking with special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, FBI investigators have not so far requested an interview with Vice President Mike Pence,” NBC News reports.

“Vice President Mike Pence’s chief lawyer and domestic policy director are leaving his office at the beginning of the New Year,” CNN reports.

“The moves come amid high tensions and staff turnover in the Trump administration thanks to the ongoing Russia probe and a new tell-all book about West Wing happenings.”

The Aspen Times reports that neighbors of the home near Aspen, Colorado where Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen Sue, are vacationing posted a sign on a stone pillar that sits at the end of driveways to both homes that read, “Make America Gay Again.”

“As the White House contends with questions about who knew about former national security adviser Michael Flynn lying to the FBI, people close to Vice President Mike Pence are trying to make clear that President Donald Trump’s No. 2 knew nothing at all,” Politico reports.

“Pence’s aides have maintained for months that their man was out of the loop, blissfully ignorant to contacts between the Trump campaign and various foreign actors, from the Russian ambassador to WikiLeaks.”

New Yorker: “A staff member from Trump’s campaign recalls him mocking Pence’s religiosity. He said that, when people met with Trump after stopping by Pence’s office, Trump would ask them, ‘Did Mike make you pray?’ Two sources also recalled Trump needling Pence about his views on abortion and homosexuality.”

“During a meeting with a legal scholar, Trump belittled Pence’s determination to overturn Roe v. Wade. The legal scholar had said that, if the Supreme Court did so, many states would likely legalize abortion on their own. ‘You see?’ Trump asked Pence. ‘You’ve wasted all this time and energy on it, and it’s not going to end abortion anyway.’ When the conversation turned to gay rights, Trump motioned toward Pence and joked, ‘Don’t ask that guy—he wants to hang them all!’”

Vice President Mike Pence left the Indianapolis Colts game at which Peyton Manning’s number is to be retired after the San Francisco 49ers’ decided to kneel in protest before the game, the Washington Post reports.

Estimates of the numbers of players who took a knee ranged from 15 to 23.

“The U.S. Army detail assigned to Vice President Mike Pence’s communications team has been removed from White House duties after being caught on video bringing women back to their hotel in Colombia,” NBC News reports.

“The soldiers — who were senior members of the service, according to one of the officials — were brought back to the United States and removed from the White House detail once the allegations surfaced…  There is no indication at this point that the women with the U.S. Army soldiers were prostitutes.”

Jason Zengerle: “No matter the circumstances of Trump’s exit — whether he leaves early or not — Pence will inherit a hangover. Recall Gerald Ford’s efforts, in the wake of Watergate, to declare that America’s long national nightmare is over.’ Pence might need to do something similar… If Trump were to resign or be forced from office, Republicans would struggle in the long shadow of scandal and turmoil — and nobody would be more enveloped in it than Pence himself.”

“Consensus holds that Pence would want to surround himself with new staff — particularly Republican heavyweights, aides and operatives of the stature and pedigree that Trump wasn’t able to lure to the White House…. Surprisingly, one high-profile survivor might be Kellyanne Conway, who served on Pence’s gubernatorial campaign as a pollster. At one point she even urged him to run for president in 2016, and later she talked him up to Trump during the veep search.”