Former Vice President Mike Pence said then-President Donald Trump “endangered my family, me and everyone on Capitol Hill” during the Jan. 6 riot.
“The president’s words were reckless and his actions were reckless,” Pence told ABC’s David Muir of his apparent anger at his commander-in-chief as rioters stormed the capital in 2021.
“It was clear that he had decided to be part of the problem,” Pence insisted in his most direct account of his anger from that day.
Pence, 63, made it clear he felt Trump’s refusal to admit he lost the 2020 election put him in danger as he told excited supporters to ‘fight like hell’ and to head to the Capitol as Pence oversaw congressional certification of the results. .
“It doesn’t take courage to break the law. It takes courage to uphold the law,” former Vice President Mike Pence said of his decision to stand up to Trump’s narrative of voter fraud.
A man calls on people to raid the building as Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as they attempt to storm the US Capitol.
Pence had to flee the Capitol as some of those storming it chanted a desire to “hang” him.
Pence sits with his daughter, Charlotte, and brother, Greg, as his wife, Karen, draws the curtains, in the upstairs Senate room where he was evacuated on Jan. 6, 2021.
Then-Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi read the final certification of Electoral College votes in the November presidential election during a joint session of Congress after worked all night of January 7, 2021.
Trump, 76, claimed Pence could easily overturn the result – with those storming the building then chanting “Hang Mike Pence” and erecting a gallows, forcing him to flee the building.
“The president’s words that day at the rally endangered my family, me, and everyone on Capitol Hill,” Pence told Muir in an interview that aired in full Monday.
He was breathing heavily and looked uncomfortable when asked about Trump’s first tweet about the chaos even as members were ‘barricaded inside the chamber of the House’.
The message, Muir reminded him, said “Mike Pence didn’t have the guts to do what should have been done to protect our country and our Constitution.”
After an eight-second pause, Pence finally admitted that “it pissed me off.”
“But I turned to my daughter, who was standing next to me, and I said, ‘It doesn’t take courage to break the law. It takes courage to uphold the law,” he said of his decision to oppose Trump’s push to deny the results.
Pence paused and looked uncomfortable when asked about Trump’s tweet during the siege.
“The president’s words were reckless,” the former vice president said.
Pence was interviewed at his Indiana home ahead of the Tuesday release of his memoir, “So Help Me God.”
“The president’s words were reckless,” he repeated.
Pence was interviewed at his Indiana home ahead of the Tuesday release of his memoir, “So Help Me God.”
He has previously refused to attack Trump, even admitting he is unlikely to support his long-awaited bid to try to return to the White House. Trump teased an announcement on Tuesday.
In the interview, airing later Monday, Muir also asks Pence if his former commander in chief hurt Republicans mid-term — as well as his own potential plans for running for president, ABC said.
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