Details Emerge On Mike Pence's Cancelled Salem, Manchester Trip

CONCORD, NH — Vice President Mike Pence had been scheduled to visit Manchester and Salem earlier this month, and now more details are emerging behind his reasons for cancelling his trip last minute. According to Politico, the cancellation had to do with a suspected drug dealer with whom Pence would have been meeting, had he arrived to the Granite State as planned. On July 2, Pence had been scheduled to speak during a round table meeting at Granite Recovery Centers in Salem, but the center's then-business development officer Jeff Hatch was being investigated by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in connection with interstate trafficking of fentanyl, Pence's aides told Politico.

Hatch, who no longer works for the substance abuse treatment organization, agreed to plead guilty in federal court Friday. He is charged with moving more than $100,000 of fentanyl from Massachusetts to New Hampshire, Politico stated.

Gov. Chris Sununu released a statement in regard to the Politico article, stating, "For someone to have potentially abused their position within the treatment, prevention, and recovery community is a grave breach of trust and morally abhorrent. If these reports are true, his cooperation in this investigation better have been sufficient enough to justify such a lenient plea agreement."

Pence had been scheduled to arrive via Air Force Two in Manchester on the morning of July 2 and spend time in the Queen City, before heading to Salem's recovery centers for the round table discussion. When his trip was cancelled, his office announced that something had come up.

This story will be updated.