Mike Pence was dining when the Washington Post's story was posted. | AP Photo Pence ducked reporters when Trump video was published

TOLEDO -- Indiana Gov. Mike Pence dropped his protective pool on Friday after video surfaced of Donald Trump making crude and sexually aggressive comments toward women.

As the news was breaking, Pence was dining on a chili dog with his daughter Charlotte at Tony Packo's Cafe in Toledo, Ohio.


The four reporters in Pence's pool were positioned to watch Pence take a look at the restaurant's main attraction -- a wall of signed cardboard hot dog buns, including one signed recently by Trump -- as he left the restaurant.

Suddenly, and without explanation, the pool was told Pence would be leaving directly after he finished dining, without looking at the signatures or shaking any more hands. The pool was instructed to return to the press bus and was not permitted to film Pence leaving the restaurant -- thus stripping them of an opportunity to ask Pence for his reaction to the news.

A Pence aide insisted that it was normal procedure for the pool to leave at the end of such stops, and that the abrupt departure was not related to the breaking news.

A protective pool is a rotating group of reporters assigned to cover a candidate or a running mate who stay with him or her throughout their day.

Brent Griffiths contributed.