Mike Pence used taxpayer money to visit a football game he planned on leaving anyways.

Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence, attended a NFL game of the San Francisco 49ers vs. the Indianapolis Colts today on October 8th, 2017 at Indianapolis.

Shortly after standing for the National Anthem, Mike Pence left the stadium.

NFL players have been protesting the treatment of black Americans by police since Colin Kaepernick took a knee back in September of 2016. The number of players kneeling or protesting the National Anthem has increased since President Donald Trump criticized the NFL players for kneeling only weeks ago, stating it's disrespectful to the American Flag, calling the players protesting "sons of bitches" and that they should be fired.

The big question here is: was this staged or was it genuine?

Here's Trump tweeting that he asked Pence to leave the stadium if any players kneeled.

Here's where it gets weird. Sources reporting that the media pool for Pence was kept in the vans ahead of the game instead of being led inside. This is strong evidence Mike Pence planned to walk out in the first place instead of intending to stay.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2017/10/08/vice-president-pence-walks-out-of-colts-game-over-49ers-national-anthem-protests/

Here's something else weird. Mike Pence tweeted the same exact photo that was tweeted back in November 2014 and used it for his post today on October 8th 2017.

NEW TWEET: https://twitter.com/VP/status/917048886975500289
OLD TWEET: https://twitter.com/GovPenceIN/status/536606520621170689

When VP Pence flies anywhere to attend a public gathering, money is spent for coordination, secret service/protection, etc etc.

So basically, it seems to me at least, this was a political stunt that ultimately was in bad taste trying to use American Football Players "disrespecting the flag" to gain some kind of political points at the cost of taxpayers.

ESPECIALLY because this comes after HHS Secretary Tom Price resigned after reporting discovered he used private planes on taxpayer money for personal trips. Reporting also suggests a number of Trump cabinet members and staff have also used private planes for personal use (including Ryan Zinke - Interior Secretary, Steve Mnuchin - Treasury Secretary, and Scott Pruit - head of EPA).