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And now, from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN Audio, the Axe Files, with your host David Axelrod.

You know, we all witnessed the unforgettable events of January 6th through OneLens, but Mark Short had another.

As the Chief of Staff to Mike Pence, Short accompanied the then vice president to Capitol Hill on that faithful and disturbing day.

We talked about what he heard and saw, as well as his own life's journey in conservative politics during his recent visit to the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago. Here's that conversation.

Mark Short, it's great to have you here, great to have you at the Institute of Politics. The Axe Files, great to see you again.

David, it's great to be with you. Thanks for having me on the Axe Files and it's awesome to be around so many students here at the University of Chicago.

Thank you for inviting me, Mono.

We actually had a brief stint in which we were colleagues at CNN and I always wondered when I was there, how that land over at the White House when you came to work at CNN.

Because I mean, I may be overly sensitive, I got the sense the president didn't like CNN that much.

Well, you know, I think that probably went both ways to be fair. David, my sense from CNN was that probably leading up to the 2016 campaign, the president got a lot of free air time on CNN.

And I think that there were some at CNN who maybe had a perspective that they wanted to correct that in their coverage of the president.

But I didn't have any challenge because I was proud of our record and proud to go on CNN to cover it.

I wish I had a chance to have more time on the air with you. And I think that one of the few times we actually were on the panel together, unfortunately, was the 2018 election that was a sweeping victory for Democrats.

That was less fun for me to be on the air with you that night.

Yeah, yeah, I thought that was a good night. So there are a lot of people who I talk to who talk about their circuitous route into politics.

You're not one of those people. You were sort of born into this. Talk about your upbringing in Virginia Beach and your family.

And your dad who was active in politics in Virginia in the 60s and 70s.

Well, thank you, David. Yes, my father was very active in conservative politics. And Virginia grew up in Virginia Beach. And so I was around it for sure.

But I didn't really think that was my path when I went off the power.

But you thought they campaigned, right?

My dad was, sure. But when I went off to college, I sort of felt like I'd go a different path. But I began getting interested in campus politics when I was in school and really less of the national politics, but more there.

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